419 scam: "Western Union Money Transfer"<sales@seasons.com.mo> REF NO: 250-153

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:
- "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. )
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "u.k " (this email uses bad English)
- "western.unionoutlet@live.hk" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
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.
- +447905981600

Fraud email example:

From: "Western Union Money Transfer" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <western.unionoutlet@w.cn>
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2010 16:52:49 +0100
Subject: REF NO: 250-153

WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER
Welcome to Western Union Send Money Worldwide
Burdett House, 15-16 Buckingham Street,
London,,WC2N 6DU United Kingdom
UK Debt Management Office
FAX NUMBER: + 44-7905981600
REF NO: 250-153
FILE NUMBER: KTU/ 9023118308/03

Dear Winner, There is an issue with the Western Union Money Transfer in sum of
$5.500,000:00USD (Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars)
directed in cash because after our verification and our online system promotion
your name and address won the high prize of the year so in that cause we award
you as our beneficiary winner of this year because your details was the only
one who truly won this prize and we ask you not to disregard your winnings
because after sending some amount of money to united kingdom by transaction or
to your friend's some months back with western union money transfer from your
country, your marks top up to the percent of 80 in our data-base office and
thereafter you make another transaction to Nigeria with western union that is
where your e-mail and your details won you the sum of $5.500,000:00USD because
we have monitors on our transfer system so your funds of $5.500,000:00USD has
been approve today and we wish to announce it to you online and we also want
you to confirm your details properly before we can register with the paying and
transfer bank in order for them to make an Electronic wire transfer of this won
prize direct to your bank account without you coming to London and have it
yourself.

Your email and your details won this prize because of your payment and our
online promo this year and your details is the most details who got up to 100%
marks in our data-base so we request to confirm your details before anything
will commence and your credited file No Is KTU/ 9023118308/03, on your name
as your elongated winner,this payment effected in a couple of hours ago due to
your allocated security code.We are happy to inform you today via an email to
re-confirm your complete details so that we could forward to the transfer and
paying bank here in London so that they can make electronic wire transfer
direct to your bank account,you are then required to confirm your details once
more because we do not want to be reliable for any mistake,for your information
this promo will be announced on BBC and CNN Network.

WESTERN UNION CLAIMS FORM.

1). Full Name :
2). Address :
3). Country:
4). Tel :
5). Fax:
6). Sex:
7). Age:
8). Occupation:
9). Email:

Note: that your payment(won prize) will be issue in a cash not in any form and
we would only send you the bank details upon re-confirmation of your details
and if any contact do not response to them as you are aware that there are too
many scam e-mails going on in the Internet as we do not Operate with any third
part in this regard, please when calling or emailing, please use reference
number 250-153 for our mutual convenience and we would also send you this
number in Our next mail to notify you properly.

We are hoping to hear back from you as urgent to claim up your won prize,once
more we would like to say a very big thank you for using Western Union Money
Transfer.

Do have a nice day and remain bless.

(CONTACT EVENTS MANAGER)
Best Regards
Mr.Allan Fedrick
Western Union Agent.
E-mail: western.unionoutlet@live.hk

Lottery Promotion and chief announcer.
Mrs.Linda Harley
WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER U.K

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam