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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:
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- imf.paymentoffice@yahoo.com.hk (Yahoo, Hong Kong; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "PHILP" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <verification.imf@xnmsn.cn>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:08:49 -0700
Subject: This letter is from The IMF Committee on Fund Management And Payment
IMF COMMITTEE ON FUND MANAGEMENT AND PAYMENTS.
Dear Beneficiary,
This letter is from The IMF Committee on Fund Management And Payment newly inaugurated by the World Financial Services Authority of The IMF.
This committee was set up to discover all outstanding unpaid/unclaimed fund being owned by Governments or Individuals all over the globe through Contract Payment/Inheritance and Lottery Winning Prize Awards.
Through our investigation last week, it may interest you to know that we discovered an unclaimed fund in your favor and we have been mandated to ensure that this fund gets to you without any delay.
Therefore you are required to confirm to us:
your full name, address and telephone number to enable us create a payment file regarding the release of your fund as soon as possible.
Reply all email : imf.paymentoffice@yahoo.com.hk
Yours Faithfully.
PHILP REV.
IMF FUND INVESTIGATION SECTION.111
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Anti-fraud resources:
