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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:
- "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. )
- "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.
Fraud email example:
From: Tony Oba <Oba.ww.@cronos.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "DHLCURRIECOMPANY@yeah.net" <DHLCURRIECOMPANY@yeah.net>
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2016 07:11:35 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Attn: My Dear,
Attn: My Dear,
I am Lawyer Tony Oba,
hello Good Evening. how are you doing together with your family? this is officially bring to your notice that we have receive the require information sent for Delivery
of your total Fund of $10.500.000 usd to your personal Home Address in P O Box 188427 Sacramento CA 95818.
i want to know the reason why you still keep us waiting to send the require payment of $450usd with this name below to enable us proceed immediately and Deliver your
ATM CARD to your personal home address within 24hours shipping through DHL CURRIE COMPANY Ok
and i also i want to inform you that i assist you with the half of the money to enable you come up with the remaining rest of $250usd today to enable us get everything
don in good position as soon as possible Ok
So i will advise you to pick up the information and go directly to Money Gram Branch and send remaining $250sud and get back to me with the reference number such as
MTCN The Courier agent will use the certificate as clearance for express delivery to your address.
Below is where you can send the $250 to our protocol officer Name through money gram.
Receiver's Name......NWA DIKE
Receiving Country.......Benin Republic
City: Cotonou
Text Question.....A
Text Answer...B
Amount........$250
Mtcn.......
Senders name.......
Senders country..
Once again stop contacting those people, I will advise you to contact Lawyer Tony Oba so that he can help you to Deliver your fund instead of dealing with those liars
that will be turning you around asking for different kind of money to complete your transaction.
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Anti-fraud resources:
