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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. )
- 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 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.
- mrs.lucianwabenne@rediffmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Mrs lucia Nwabenne <emma.okpo1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrs.lucianwabenne@rediffmail.com
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:04:18 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: CONTACT FASTWAY COURIER SECURITY COMPANY
FASTWAY COURIER SECURITY COMPANY
Contact: Mrs lucia Nwabenne
Address: Avenue Stermetz Rue 1255
Porto novo of Benin Republic.
Attention: Dear ,
With regards to your Atm Card worth $3.800.000.00 USD deposited in our Company by Mr Peter John from Bank of African here in Benin Republic, I wish to inform you that instructions was passed to our company to commence with the delivery of your ATM Card as soon as you contacted us and reconfirm your current delivery address.
We have finalize the delivery arrangement and will forward the tracking details to you as soon as it is dispatched to you.
Meanwhile we can not commence on the delivery without our signing fees of your Atm Card which $88.00usd, for the delivery fee and that is what will delay your Atm Card not to leave this country today and we can not commence on the delivery without having the signing fees first and it is $88.00usd only.
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you are to send our signing fee of just $88.00usd with this information bellow through western union money transfer for easy confirmation and immediate delivery of your atm card.
Receiver:::::::::::::::::: Ekene chukwuma
Country:::::::::::::::::Benin Republic
City:::::::::::::::::::::::: Porto Novo
Questions::::::::::::::year?
Answer:::::::::::::::::2011
Amount::::::::::::::::$88.00usd
Sender's Name:::::
M.T.C.N::::::::::::::::
Send us the fee with this E-mail ; ( mrs.lucianwabenne@rediffmail.com ) We will forward the tracking number of your package as soon as we got everything done.
Please remember to reconfirm your mailing address to me again to avoid wrong delivery okay.
I will be waiting for your call as soon as you get this email for your delivery update.
Thanks we await for your urgent response.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs lucia Nwabenne.
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Anti-fraud resources:
