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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. )
- "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. )
- "lagos" (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.
- 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.
- udemluke2008@rocketmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "udemluke@rokectmail.com" <udemluke2008@rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: udemluke@rokectmail.com
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:26:06 +0100 (BST)
Subject: reply fast
I am writing you this mail just to let you know what is going on.I am
writing this mail just to inform you that some group of men just enter our
office today claiming that you sent them to claim your fund for you.
Please can we release the fund to those people.They told us that it is you
that sent them to claim the fund for you. Now we have stop them and inform
them that we did not have an agreement with you to come down to Nigeria to
claim it or sending a representative's. Now i want to inform you that the
board of the Director's wanted to release the fund to them because they
have all that we need from there hand. So try harder today to see yous end
the fees and recieve your fund. I am assuring you that after you send the
fees that i will not let you down after that. Just try andget back to
me.Just try harder to see you send this fees through western union to
Attn: Ikem Emeka
City: Lagos
Country:Nigeria
Question: In God
Answer: We Trust
Amt:$75
Give me the MTCN number after the payment. Reply me
here:udemluke2008@rocketmail.com
Udem Luke
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Anti-fraud resources:
