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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:
- "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. )
- "moneygram" (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. )
- "money gram" (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. )
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- 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.
- MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- 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.
- internationinter@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: MONEY GRAM <offi------3@att.net>
Reply-To: internationinter@sify.com
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 09:28:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: DIRECTOR MONGRAM INTERNATIONAL BENIN
P {
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OFFICE OF THE MONEY
GRAM MONEY TRANSFER.
COTONOU
BENIN REPUBLIC/ADDRESS 455 *CANADA 11 ROAD
OPPOSITE TUNDE MOTORS
COTONOU.
EMAILS internationinter@sify.com
website... www.moneygram.com
WE WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE
THE RECEIPT OF YOUR EMAIL IN THIS MONEY GRAM OFFICE AND THE CONTENT IS WELL
NOTED.
WE ARE INSTRUCTED TO SEND YOUR FUND
TO YOUR ADDRESS IN YOUR CITY MONEY GRAM
OFFICE FROM BENIN REPUBLIC OFFICE OF THE MONEY GRAM TRANSFER AND YOU WILL BE RECEIVING
YOUR FUND ( $6500 U.S.D ) PER DAY UNTIL YOU RECEIVE ALL YOUR TOTAL PAYMENT WHICH IS THE SUM OF $1.500.000USD AS SCHEDULED IN OUR
OFFICE HERE.
It was
registered with us by Mr. Paul smith ,for urgent remittance to your destination money gram in your
country.
In money
gram transaction when an amount of fund in transaction is more than 10,000.00 usd dollars,
the document file will be renewed before the transfer will commence as ordered by the ministry
of finance and in all the money grams
of the world.
I want you
to know that this is a legitimate transfer and that is why our Government said that your file
which was deposited at this money gram with your name must be renew before the transfer will commence.The cost of the Renewal of
your File which was deposited at this Money Gram With your Name is $79.00 Only.
So i want you to know that there is
nothing like any deceiving in this transfer of your fund and be inform that the amount which you will
be receiving each day is $6500,SD once
you send the $79.00 for the renewal of
your file today.
Be rest
assure that as soon you send the $79.00 and we renew your file,we shall
start transferring your fund to you
through this Money Gram Department without any further delay and this is the only fee you have to pay
in this transaction as it was written
down already by the Federal government of
this country that mapped out the compensation for you .
Note: the reason why we need you to
send us the $79.00usd
is that we tried to deduct the renewal fee out from your fund but the minister
administrator trust fund of Benin republic told us that no one has access over
your fund as it have been signed and stamped that no money should be deducted
until it gets to you to avoid any misunderstanding because if any one has access
to that it will involve you loosing your fund, No one has to be trusted base on
our past experience we had earlier last year.
We are waiting to hear from you
today with the fee.
This is the
payment information you will use to send the $79.00 for this department to release your
fund tomorrow morning.
You will
send the fee through Money Gram or western union money transfer with this information
below.
Receiver name ---Pius Akwuobi
City-------------COTONOU
Country----------REPUBLIC OF BENIN
Test Question----God
Test
Answer------Yes
Amount-----------$79.00
We will be
waiting to receive the payment information.
Kindly get
back to us as soon as possible.
Thanks And
God Blessing
Thanks.
Mr Lay Johnson
DIRECTOR MONEY GRAM
INTERNATIONAL BENIN
REPUBLIC
EMAILS internationinter@sify.com
DIRECTOR MONGRAM
INTERNATIONAL BENIN
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