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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: "Manager Western Union Nigeria" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <westernunion.agent.1111@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:54:32 -0600
Subject: Money Transfer Control Number (M.T.C.N) 9611517744

Attention


Be informed that your part-payment of ($500.000.00) from International Monetary Fund Unit (IMF) has been approved to transfer via our department of Western Union, Meanwhile your urgent respond is highly needed with the re-confirmation of your details where and how to receive your funds in our office such as:


Your Name:
Country:.......
Address..........
Telephone Number............
Age...........
Sex.........
Occupation.........


Also the payment of$10,000.00 has already been made through Western Union for you to pick it up, but due to the instruction we received from International Monetary Fund Unit (IMF), you are required to pay sum of ($170.00) to activate your payment files and also to ensure you are the right person to receive the fund. Upon reception of the Activation fee, you can pick up the first transfer of $10,000.00.


Money Transfer Control Number (M.T.C.N) 9611517744
Sender's First Name: Patrick
Sender's Last Name: Wilfred
Transfer Status: (Pending)
Amount:....................... . $10,000.00 USD

Track it with our website:https://wumt.westernunion.com/asp/orderStatus.asp?country=global
You can easily get back to us via email or telephone# for more details while the amount you will be confirming daily is ($10,000.00) starting from the day we receive the Activation fee of sum of $170.00 You are to use the name below to send the Activation Fee via Western Union and send payment details to this Email: westernunion.agent.1111@gmail.com


RECEIVER NAME......COLLINS VICTOR
RECEIVERS ADDRESS.................... LAGOS NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION..........GOD
TEXT ANSWERS.................GOD
SENDER NAME..............
MTCN.............
SENDER ADRESS..........

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.
Mr. Bruce Hoek
Transaction Director
Manager Western Union Nigeria


Anti-fraud resources: