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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "William Rachels" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <williamerachels@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2022 13:42:04 -0700
Subject: Re: Dear Email Owner, Thank God i found you At Last.

Dear Email Owner,
 
 
I have a vital information for you that will definitely change our lives for good but first, I must seek your discretion, because if something goes wrong I might lose my job. I need to be sure if I can trust you completely before revealing this information to you. I'm William Rachels, I'm the Cargo Inspector and Transportation officer of the airport. Last Week Tuesday, during my routine check at the Airport Storage Vault, I discovered an abandoned shipment belonging to a Foreigner. After scanning the shipment, it revealed an undisclosed amount of dollar bills in a silver Metallic Trunk Box.
 
According to my investigation, the shipment was abandoned because the Contents of the shipment was not properly declared by the consignee as "Money"....I t was declared as personal items such as VIDEO TAPES, SHOES, HISTORICAL BOOKS AND DIARIES in order to avoid interrogation by the U.S Customs and Border protection authorities, also further investigation revealed that the Foreigner was denied entry into the United States because he tested positive to COVID-19 Virus on arrival and was unable to gain entry in order to claim the Silver metallic box from the cargo department..... therefore he didn't pay for the U.S Customs Duty Tariff which is about $7,850 USD. It's been more than a year and (3) months now and the Silver Box is still in our Storage/vault Facility at the Airport here in Houston, Texas and no one has come forward to claim the box up till date. According to the documents found on the box the dollar bills inside the silver box is estimated to be $14.5 million US Dollar.  
 
However, The management of the Airport authorities have carried out series of Private searches in order to locate the owner of the Silver Box but without success because they couldn't find the foreigner till date and no one has ever come forward to claim the box for the past one year and three months.... However, I discovered that your Last name matches with the same last name of the beneficiary to whom the package was to be delivered to, therefore as Cargo Inspector and Transportation officer in charge of transportation and distribution of luggage, I have intentionally left out the final details of the content of my discovery In order to keep this secret to myself, I've intentionally left out the details of my findings from the airport vault authorities just to cover up our tracks.
 
 
Although Airport Storage Vault/legislation demands that I notify the fiscal authorities after a statutory period when Cargo storage facilities of this type are called in by the Airport regulatory bodies if nobody applies to claim the package. I urge you to come forward since I can provide details needed for us to claim the Silver Box from the airport. You are entitled to 60% of the total funds in the box, you are to deduct an extra 10% for any expenses we both incurred during the process of getting the box out of the airport vault and the delivering it to your home address and 30% for me since the box has not yet been returned to the United States Treasury Department after being abandoned by for about a year and three months now.
 
As soon as I get your response signifying your interest to go ahead, I shall proceed immediately by applying for a loan from my bank in order to pay for the U.S Customs Duty Tariff which is a total of $7,850 US dollars. I'll arrange for the box to be delivered to your doorstep or I can bring it by myself to avoid any mistakes. Please endeavor to observe utmost discretion in all matters concerning this issue and kindly drop your private/cell phone number for easy communication. I wait to hear from you as quickly as possible if you are still alive. I will appreciate if we can keep this deal confidential. Please get back to me via my private Email :(portoftexascity@aol.com) for further directives.
 
Yours sincerely
William Rachels.

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