joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: Office File <user@shenye.com.cn>
Reply-To: <westernunionoffice@voila.fr>
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:04:53 +0000
Subject: CONTACT WESTEERN UNION HEADQUATAR FOR YOUR PAYMENT

Good day!!!

We are here to notify you of the dialogue between United State Authority and Benin Government concerned your over due payment of US$1,700.000.00; we have been mandated to transfer the total amount to you via our service Western Union.

Therefore, be informed that we have already sent you first payment of $10,000 U.S. Dollars through Western Union as we have been given the mandate to transfer the sum of $1,700.000.00 U.S. Dollars to you via Western Union.

The meeting to resolve the differences surrounding your payment has been going on for a while and it has been concluded with an order to effect your payment immediately through Western Union. The first $10,000 has already been sent to you today and you will be able to pick it up once your data is crosschecked and endorsed.

Contact operation Center; Mr. Vincent Alex; (westernunionoffice@voila.fr) and as soon as your data is endorsed you will be giving the information to pick up your first payment of $10,000.


Make sure you send the following information to the Western Union Agent Location to enable them crosscheck your file to avoid wrongful payment

Your Full name:
Home Address:
City:
Country:
Phone number:
Occupation:
Age:

Contact Mr. Vincent Alex for the full information of your payment;

Yours Faithfully,
Williams Edward
Administrating Manager.

Anti-fraud resources: