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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:
- "sirwalkerdavid@barclaysgroupcouk.int.tf" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "info@imf.org" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <www.imf.org.info@usa.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 13:15:55 +0100
Subject: YOUR FUND RELEASE NOTIFICATION
FROM: MR BECKER JONSON
IMF MONITORING UNIT DIRECTOR
ATTENTION: LOTTERY WINNER, NEXT OF KIN, CONTRACT PAYMENT
HOW ARE YOU TODAY? I HAVE BEEN DIRECTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL MONITORY FUND (IMF) CHAIRMAN TO INQUIRE FROM YOU WHY YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO CLAIM YOUR FUND WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN APPROVED AND DIRECTED VIA BARCLAYS BANK PLC LONDON.
THE IMF ORGANIZATION WANT TO KNOW IF THERE IS ANY DISCREPANCIES OR ANY MISINFORMATION THAT BRING DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND BARCLAYS BANK PLC THAT LED TO THE DELAY OF THE TRANSFER OF YOUR FUND. THE IMF CHAIRMAN HAS ALSO ASKED THIS DEPARTMENT TO GET YOUR REASON IN ORDER TO CONFIRM IF YOU WERE ASKED TO MAKE UNNECESSARY EXPENSES THAT WAS NOT IN ACCORDANCE TO THE DIRECTIVES. PLEASE CONFIRM THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WE CAN PROCEED ON OUR INVESTIGATION AS DIRECTED AND ALSO MAKE CONTACT TO THE BARCLAYS GROUP CHAIRMAN SIR, DAVID WALKER ON THIS EMAIL ADDRESS sirwalkerdavid@barclaysgroupcouk.int.tf APPLYING FOR RELEASE OF 10.5 MILLION USD APPROVED WITH YOUR NAME
SINCERELY,
MR BECKER JONSON
DIRECTOR, IMF MONITORING UNIT
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
IMF
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Anti-fraud resources:
