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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:
- "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. )
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "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.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: western <civilaointernational@gmail.com>
Reply-To: oofficewestern@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 13 May 2017 00:35:39 +0100
Subject: PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS OF USD ($10.500.000.00 FROM CBN;
From: Western Union Money Transfer
Lagos, Nigeria. 5 idowu Tailor street Victoria Island. Lagos
PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS OF USD ($10.500.000.00 FROM CBN;
Dear beneficiary,
Good day and how are you today? Please don’t blame us for the delay of
your money as we are verifying the rightful owner of this fund. There
was a lot of complicating issues but we have finally realized you are
the main beneficiary of this fund.
It is the responsibility of the receiver to pay the posting charge
because government did not make budget for that so we come up with
total transfer charge of 450 dollars.
Notwithstanding some of our customer find it difficult to raise this
charge and this contributes more on the delay. We have meeting last
week concerning this to know how we are going to help out. And
management set out three months bonus to all customers who abandon
there money here due to financial difficulty.
In order words we are requesting that those involve should pay only
the sum of $75.00 to receive all their payment abandoned in our
custody and return the balance of $375, upon receipt s of your first
payment since you find it difficult to raise the entire required sum.
Besides, this is the opportunity for you to comply and your funds will
be transfer to your destination address.
Also note that after (3 months} if you didn’t make the payment of
$75.00 then we divert your funds to government account to avoid any
problem or we will cancel your payment file.
So you are advice to send $75.00. Immediately if you still willing to
claim your payment to enable us register your payment once we receive
the transfer charges because you will start receiving your payment as
from tomorrow morning. send the fee through Western Union Transfer
with the information below.
You can ask any body now Nigeria has gotten permit to transfer money
through western union outside. it was not like before, when they don't
have access. Email. dr.kenneth_o@yahoo.pt
1. Receiver Name…………Victor Uzoma
2. City/Country………….Lagos- Nigeria
3. Question………….how far
4. Answer…………fine
5. Amount…………US75.00
Thanks,
Dr. kenneth
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