419 scam: Mr.Paul Martin <mrpaulmartinsoff@gmail.com> Re:..

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- "million dollars" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "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.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348133933332
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.
- mrpaulmartinsoffice@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Mr.Paul Martin <mrpaulmartinsoff@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <mrpaulmartinsoffice@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:33:55 -0700
Subject: Re:..

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION 14A AWOLOWO LANE, IKOYI LAGOS NIGERIA. Motto: No Body is Above the Law Attention: Fraud victim, Firstly we introduce this commission, Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) we fight cyber crime, Internet fraud, scam and money laundering in Africa and United Kingdom. Our commission has been in existences since 2004 and our duty is to stop internet fraud. We have over 3,500 of them in our jails aroundAfrica and UK and we are still looking for these internet fraudsters and we are aware that a lot of foreigners have been deceived and huge amount of money has also been lost to this fraudsters after promising you percentages in their letters for you to help them move funds and they will end up demanding for money from you and in return you will get nothing. The Leaders of the African Crime fighters has come together to inform the world what is going on now and we have recovered over $422 Million Dollars (Four Hundred and Twenty two Million Dollars) from the people we have apprehended. The reason we are writing you this letter is because your name was given to us by one of the fraudsters in our detention room after serious investigation and our aim is to refund all lost fund to its legitimate owner. In addition to the compensation amount also approved in your favor is One Million United States Dollars (US$1,000,000.00) that will be paid to you in the next few days through a direct wire transfer to your account.We have make a necessary arrangement with the Director of FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK NIGERIA PLC to process all the payment. The only thing that you will do is to contact the below FCMB telegraphic department director and furnish him with the following data of yours immediately as we intend finalizing this payment in few days time. Your full Names YourResidential address Your direct phone/Mobile Line CONTACT PERSON: MR.Paul Martin DIRECTOR,TELEGRAPHIC DEPT FCMB PHONE: +234-8133933332 EMAIL: mrpaulmartinsoffice@gmail.com Yours truly, Mrs. Favor Emeh (SECRETARY EFCC)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam