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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:
- 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. )
- "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. )
- 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.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Director Mrs.Elizabeth Nakiganda" <western-uniontransfer@o2.pl>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:33:17 +0900 (KST)
Subject: YOUR TRANSFER Mtcn: 1870132312
P {
MARGIN: 0px
}
UL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
OL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
 Â
WESTERN UNIONÂ
HEAD OFFICE DEPARTMENT
REPUBLIC OF BENIN.FOREGN CONTRACTOR PAYMENT
OFFICE TELEPHONE +229-98124803 WEB
Â
Attn: My Dear.
How are you today ?Hope you are doing fine over there, I have
waited to hear from you but could not hear from you? why do you keep silence on
me? What is the problem? Are you alright at all???.Â
The Board Of Federal Ministry Of Finance Benin Republic.
Are Here To Notify you that we have already sent you the first payment of $5000
today, You Are Required to send us the transfer charges $58 immediately before
the stop order will be lifted from your transfer and you can pick up the first
$5000.00 us dollars.
You can check the availability of
the money at the Western
Union website which is this
Mtcn: 1870132312
Sender’s First Name:
Elizabeth
Sender’s Last Name: Nakiganda
Test Question: What
Answer:
Who
You should send the money now so that you can pick your payment
of $5,000 already there and another $5,000 payment will be made tomorrow and
Wednesday and it will continue till all the payments is
completed.
 Receiver Name : Okafor C. Christopher
Country:- Benin Republic.
 City: Porto novo
 Question: Transfer code
 Answer:  001
 Amonut: US$58.00
We seek for your kind understand and bear with us as we
promised to give you the best of our service towards the transfer of your
fund,
Thank you,
Mrs.Elizabeth Nakiganda
Director Western
Union.
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Anti-fraud resources:
