joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

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:

Fraud email example:

From: Western union <wu.awardpayment@yahoo.fr>
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:17:36 +0100 (BST)
Subject: DEAR BENEFICIARY




DEAR BENEFICIARY
 
THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER MANAGEMENT HEREBY INFORM YOU THAT YOUR NAME EMERGED ON OUR SYSTEM AS ONE OF THE ONLINE WINNING IN THE 3RD CATEGORY AND THEREFORE ATTRACTED A CASH AWARD OF OF US$1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION DOLLARS). WE ARE HERE TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR NAME APPEARS IN OUR SYSTEM AS OUR ESTEEM PATRONIZE CUSTOMER.

THEREFORE THE MANAGEMENT HEREBY COMPENSATE YOU WITH THE ABOVE MENTION SUM IN ORDER TO PROMOTE WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER SYSTEM.

YOU HAVE ONLY FEW DAYS PERIOD IMMEDIATELY YOU RECEIVE THIS EMAIL TO CONTACT THIS OFFICE UPON THE RECEIPT OF THIS EMAIL. THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT YOU WILL BE RECEIVING PER DAY STARTING FROM TOMORROW IS $10,000 IN THREE DIFFERENT PAYMENTS, SO CALL MANAGER IN CHARGE OF YOUR PAYMENT TO RELEASE YOUR  MTCN TOMORROW.
 
FURTHERMORE BE ADVISED TO CONTACT THE WESTERN UNION MANAGER WHO IS IN-CHRAGE OF YOUR TRANSFER, TO RELEASE YOUR MTCN/TRANSFER INFORMATION, AS THE INSTRUCTION WAS PASSED THAT WITHIN FIVE WORKING DAYS WITHOUT HEARING FROM YOU. YOUR PAYMENT WILL BE CANCELLED IN ADDITION TO THIS, THE NUMBER TO CALL / EMAIL TO RE-CONFIRM YOUR INFORMATION TO THE WESTERN UNION TRANSFER MANAGEMENT IS LISTED BELOW:
 
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
OFFICE OF RELEASE ORDER:
CONTACT PERSON:      MR.TIM DEAN
TELEPHONE:           0022967175060
EMAIL ADDRESS:       deantim44@yahoo.com

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
REGARDS
MRS. ELIZABETH BRETH,
ANNOUNCEMENT OFFCIER
CONTACT IMMEDIATELY TO RECIEVE YOUR URGENT TRANSFER THROUGH OUR OFFICE.
 
CONTACT IMMEDIATELY TO RECIEVE YOUR URGENT TRANSFER THROUGH OUR OFFICE.

Anti-fraud resources: