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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:

Fraud email example:

From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Western_Union=AE_Payment_Centre?= <union-----4070@att.net>
Reply-To: westen_unionmo@sify.com
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2011 06:33:20 -0800 (PST)
Subject: YOUR MTCN--009-972-5623 $5000USD









ATTN;BENEFICIARY: 
THE INFORMATION REACHING US FROM OUR CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS NOW, STATES THAT YOU ONLY HAVE 48HOURS TO EFFECT PAYMENT FOR THE ACTIVATION OF YOUR MTCN TO ENABLE YOU CASH UP YOUR FIRST PAYMENT OF $5,000:00 FROM YOUR TOTAL (FUND) SINCE YOU ARE FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE THIS PAYMENT WE HAVE DECIDED THAT YOU ARE TO GO AHEAD AND PAY WHATEVER YOU HAVE FOR THE ACTIVATION FEE SINCE YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO COME UP WITH THE REQUIRED SUM,TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE HERE.YOU ARE TO PAY WHATEVER YOU HAVE FOR THE ACTIVATION FEE, WE WILL ACTIVATE YOUR MTCN UPON RECEIPT OF THIS PAYMENT.
 
BE INFORMED THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY THE BALANCE SUM OF YOUR ACTIVATION UPON CASHING UP OF YOUR FIRST 5,000:00 USD, ALSO I AM USING THIS MEDIUM TO INFORM YOU THAT FAILURE TO PAY THE BALANCE SUM WILL LEAVE US WITH NO OPTION BUT TO DEACTIVATE YOUR MTCN OF WHICH YOU WILL AND CAN NEVER CASH UP THE BALANCE SUM  OF $5000USD AGAIN I WANT YOU TO SEND THE RENEWING AND TRANSFER FEE WITH THE INFORMATION BELLOW.
 

 
 
1.RECEIVER NAME:............. MR  CHIZOR CHINAKA
 
2.COUNTRY:............. BENIN REPUBLIC WEST AFRICA.

3.CITY :............... COTONOU .

4..TEST QUESTION:....HONEST
 
5.TEST ANSWER:......TRUST. 
 
6.MTCN..............
 
7.SENDER NAME..........
 
8.AMOUNT................ 
 
EMAIL US WITH BELOW (westen_unionmo@sify.com
ONCE YOU SEND THE MONEY OKEY NOTE THIS YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION BUT YOUR MTCN MUST BE ACTIVATE BEFORE WE CAN RELEASE THE FUNDS TO YOU SO IF YOU WANT TO TRACK THE MONEY AND CONFIRM IF THE FUNDS IS TRANSFERED ENTER OUR WEBSITE WWW.WESTERNUNION.COM

THEN CLICK TRACKING AND ENTER THE MTCN NUMBER; 009-972-5623 ENTER SENDERS FIRST CHARLES ENTER SENDERS LAST NAME  ALEXANDER AND CLICK TRACKING AND IT WILL SHOW YOU THAT YOUR FUNDS IS AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO PICK  IT UP SENDER NAME: ROBERT CRAIN
WWW.WESTERNUNION.COM
 
 
MTCN-----009-972-5623
SENDER----ROBERT CRAIN
AMOUNT------$5000USD

http://www.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp
 
FINALY URGENT SEND US THE MONEY  TO ENABLE US PROCEED ON YOUR PAYMENT IMMEDIATELY RIGHT NOW.ABOVE  IS OUR ACCOUNT'S  INFORMATION FOR YOU TO SEND THE MONEY THROUGH WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER  BEEN OUR TRANSFERING CHARGERS FOR YOUR $5000.00 USD.
 EMAIL US:: (westen_unionmo@sify.com

YOUR URGENT RESPOND IS HIGHLY NEEDED .
 
MRS CHISOMU WESTERN UNION  HEAD OFFICE DEPARTMENT
REPUBLIC OF BENIN.
FOREGN CONTRACTOR PAYMENT OFFICE

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