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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. )
- "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.
- 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: Money Gram Agent <savianopeppe@tim.it>
Reply-To: moneygram022@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2018 10:49:18 +0200 (CEST)
Subject:
Good Morning My Dear:
How are you doing today together with your family I hope all is well? My name
is Mr. Danford Swain am here to notify you that I travel to Benin Republic On
Friday 22th of January 2016.To visit BRANCH at Cotonou City.
I want to Government office for meeting and after the meeting we find out That
you have not received your fund, Swhich has be scam by Western Union and Money
Gram delivering agent by DHL UPS and I see your name and your e-mail on the
list that is why I contact you. To know if this is real or fake???
The funds which they suppose to send to you is $5.5 Millions. which you did not
receive yet. So kindly update me if you still want to receive your funds get
back to me because am coming back to USA on Saturday.
I just contact I.R.S and Minister of Finance they told me that before they
release the documentation which I will use to delivery the funds to you it will
cost you sum of $106.00 so kindly update me with your delivery address and make
sure that you send the $106.00 to this office with below information.
Receiver name, OSIKE ANEX
Country,. Benin Republic
City. Cotonou
Code......229
Test Question,. God
Answer,¦. Bless
Amount =. $106.00
Update me with the MTCN and senders name also your address:
Yours Sincerely
Mr. Danford Swain
Tale: 229 962 535 73
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Anti-fraud resources:
