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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:
- 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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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. )
- "money gram" (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. )
- "million pounds" (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)
- 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: James Hitchman <owen.Hitchman@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <jameshitchman563@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 04:56:25 +0100
Subject: Hello
Dear friend,
I received the check for 12 million Pounds from your client late last
week and I placed it in my bank account. The bank has just called me
to advise the money is cleared and available for withdrawal.
In the meantime I checked with both the money transfer services -
Western Union and Money gram, and they do not send funds to Nigeria
from this country anymore and they would not tell me why that is the
case. They cannot send this large an amount at all anywhere in the
world. The nearest office would be a couple of hours drive from me in
any case and I would be unable to leave work to do that, whereas the
bank is only a five minute walk.
Therefore can you please supply the bank account information you said
you would supply. I need the account information where I am to
transfer this money to immediately so I can print it out and take it
to the bank with me when I send the funds. I would like to do it today
or tomorrow at the latest.
I am in meetings for the rest of today so it will be difficult to
reach me on the telephone but I will check my email every hour to see
if you have sent the information I need. If yes, I'll excuse myself to
run down and transfer the money.
The bank advised the funds will be transferred immediately so you will
have your money within an hour of sending me the info, providing you
get it to me before the bank closes. It's now just before 9am so you
have about 7-8 hours to get back to me today.
Thank you for everything you have done and I am looking forward to
spending my commission!
Best Regards,
James Hitchman
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