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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- imfpaycenter@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Johnson Stokes" <info@imf.net>
Reply-To: <Internationalmf@ciudad.com.ar>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:16:43 +0700
Subject: CONTACT THAILAND IMMEDIATELY.
Dear Sir/Madam,
We the International monetary funds (IMF) wish to inform you that your long awaited payment has been approved for payment; you are to contact our offshore payment center in Bangkok Thailand, for the signing and collection of your payment.
SIAM TRUST PCL
CONTACT PERSON: MR.WANG RAMA
TELE: +66806178370
FAX: +66816178376
EMAIL:imfpaycenter@hotmail.com
For security reasons, you're to send the following information to our offshore payment center for them to confirm that you are one of the beneficiaries.
1. Full Name and address.
2. Telephone and fax number.
3. Reason for payment
4. Copy of your identification
5. Prove of payments you made to any agency in Europe, America, Asia and Africa
6.Amount of payment you are expecting
7.Source of payment that you are expecting
Best Regards
Johnson Stokes
(Head IMF Reconciliation Dept)
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Anti-fraud resources:
