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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:
- "moneygram" (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. )
- "money gram" (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. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Daniella Smith" <capitalmugnano@alice.it>
Reply-To: moneygramtransfer@om-team.fr
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 17:41:17 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: your first payment $7,400.00 usd
MESSAGE FROM UNITED BANK Of AFRICA
Plot 991/992 Zackariah Malabar street
cad astral zone A.O central business district.
Attention Dear
Welcome to United Bank Of Africa, we are very grateful to be at your service.
You have a fund worth of $4.7M in our office which was sent to you by UNITED
NATIONS and have been deposited to Money Gram Office this morning, you are
required to submit the following personal details listed below to their office.
1) Full Name------------
2) Passport copy-----------
3) Country------------
4) Phone Number----------
MONEY GRAM OFFICE
Contact Name: Dr. Goodman Richard
Email: moneygramtransfer@om-team.fr
Tell: +229-98-79-74-50
Note this. The Money Gram Office are waiting to receive the above mentioned
information to start releasing your funds by giving you the MTCN of your first
payment $7,400.00 usd, based on our agreement with their director. Do not
forget to send your information to them to avoid the cancellation of your
funds.
Regards
Mrs. Daniella Smith
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