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: "Mr. Lawrence Parker." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <westerrnunionmt0101@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2016 17:23:30 -0700
Subject: Your First $5,000.00Us Dollars Is Available To Pick Up!

Attention: Please,

We have finalized all the necessary arrangement after the meeting heard today for release your inheritance fund worth of $1,500.000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) which was approved by the Western Union Board of Director that you will be receiving sum of $5,000 daily until you withdraw the $1.5Million Us Dollars completely. But the only fee you have to pay is $155.00us dollars for RE-ACTIVATION.

Meanwhile we want you to re-confirm your personal information for renewal and appropriate record.

Your Name: ___
Your Address: ___
Your Occupation: ____
Telephone Number: ____

To show you that this transaction is real and legit, we have issued out your first installation payment today in your name and here is the information but you can not pick up the payment, until you pay the activation fee of $155.00us dollars.

1) Sender Name: ROSE LINUS
2) Text Question:A1
3) Text Answer: A2
4) Country: BENIN REPUBLIC
5) MTCN Number: 407-259-(....)

Kindly contact us with this information below.
Contact Person: Mr. Lawrence Parker.
Contact E-mail: (westerrnunionmt0101@gmail.com)
Telephone Number: +229 9987 6902

Regards,
Mr. Lawrence Parker.
Western Union Manager.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Anti-fraud resources: