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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "cost of transfer" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: WORLD BANK <worldbank@org.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: markmartins2012@yahoo.cn
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:13:19 -0400
Subject: GOODLUCK:IT IS CONCLUDED NOW SO ADHERE TO THE INSTRUCTION
How are you today and your family?We the entire management of World Bank will have to apologize on our delay to get back to you after you tried to make the transfer and the link could not work.After you sent us an email confirming you could not go through,we decided to revisit your file and check what actually happened.
In our observation we confirmed that your fund is ready to be concluded but there is an outstanding $550 for the Cost Of Transfer(COT) which a standard procedure.We also remember that on our earlier email that we have promised that there is no money whatsoever to be paid.Now we noticed this and have also confirmed that this is the only outstanding payment on your transfer.We know what you went through in the hands of scammers and we are determined to conclude this transfer.On this note we ask that you try you very possible best to make the payment of $550 to the origin of your fund and that is to the Central Bank of Nigeria and protocol demands.On this note below is the information to use:
RECEIVER: VALETINE IZUAKOR
LOCATION: LAGOS NIGERIA
TEST QUESTION:WHAT?
TEST ANSWER: FINAL
AMOUNT:$550
MTCN:..............
Thanks and God Bless,
Mark Martins
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Anti-fraud resources:
