419 scam: "Western Union Pay Out" <hung@nttu.edu.tw> (URGENT) FINAL PAYMENT NOTIFICATION

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "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. )
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "claimofficerash@aol.nl" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
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.

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: claimofficerash@aol.nl
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:42:38 +0800
Subject: (URGENT) FINAL PAYMENT NOTIFICATION

WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER
MALAYSIA PAY-OUT CENTER

Attention Beneficiary,
We wish to inform you that the United Nations (UN) has taken over the
Inheritance/Prize Winning payment issue which you currently or previously had
with your transaction agents. Your funds was withdrawn by UN on your behalf
based on the fact that you where subjected to too many processes that will
make you spend more money before receiving your funds.

Your Inheritance/Winning payment was paid out to the United Nations
Organization, and they have succeeded in depositing your funds with us. They
have ordered Western Union to take full responsibility in the transfer process
of your funds, and we have received your application for the first installment
of $5000 USD from the total amount of $1,100,000.00 USD, One Million One
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars.

For some security reasons, we need you to reconfirm your Name, Address, Age
and Phone Number before sending you the MTCN for the first installment, and we
will email you others after 24 hours of receiving each payment.

E-mail: Siem de Jong at: claimofficerash@aol.nl
OR call our 24 hours Helpline:+60143457931 for any inquiries on the above
message.

Yours truly,
Donald Pasanen
For: Western Union Payment Service Kuala Lumpor Malaysia

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam