419 scam: "Mr. George howell" <office.netduketrades@yahoo.com> Your First Payment Has Been Send

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

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:
- "clearance certificate" (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. )
- "western union" (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. )
- "clearance certificate" (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. )
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "cotonou" (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.
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the 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.
- +229 (Benin, probably a prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. George howell" <office.netduketrades@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: "Mr. George howell" <jamesgodwin998@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 15:46:22 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Your First Payment Has Been Send

Your First Payment Has Been Send

We wish to inform you that new state elect has finally agreed with minister of finance to release all foreign debt that was not paid to foreign beneficiaries and your name is among the foreign beneficiary that have not receive their winning fund yet. We schedule to proceed Â the international wire transfer of your Unclaimed sum of US$2.5M by processing your first installment payment sum of $4,000.00 to send to you as the first payment before we proceed the rest of the transfer through bank to bank transfer .
Here is the transfer details of the first installment payment processed by foreign remittance department for you to pick it up as first payment before proceeding with the bank transfer of your fund.
THE SENDER' INFORMATION ARE LISTED BELOW:
Sender's name: daleSecond name: bugginsMTCN: 6368406063Text question: Zip CodeAnswer" 00229.
For your confirmation of your first processed payment of US$4,000.00, Track your payment MTCN through the link below: https://www.wu.com/BJ/en/track-transfer.html to see it Available for pick up by receiver.
After the processing of this MTCN, we received message from International monitory fund IMF stating that before you will receive any money from your approval sum of Â US$2.5M, you need to obtain Clean Bill on Record Clearance Certificate as foreign beneficiary. To get this document will cost you $85 dollars.
You will send this $85 fee dollars via western union, money gram or Ria money transfer listed here in
Receiver name.......Country.......BeninCity...........CotonouAddress..... 501 Concord Avenue CotonouText question: Zip CodeAnswer" 00229
Sender Name:.....................?MTCN:............................?Country:.........................?
Note, after you have receive your first payment of $4,000.00, we shall transfer the rest of your fund via Diamond Bank to your bank account.
Yours sincerelyMr.George howellE_MAIL,jamesgodwin998@yahoo.comwww.westernunion.co.com Registered 2006 - 2014 Western Union Money Transfer. All Right Reserved This email is intended for the named recipient only and may contain privileged and confidential information. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately. Please do not disclose the contents to anyone or copy.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam