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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:
- "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. )
- "huge sum 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)
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "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)
- "we will advice you " (this email uses bad English)
- 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: DAVID JACKSON <susanbentley56@gmail.com>
Reply-To: davidjackson66666@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 17:00:20 +0100
Subject: Your Compensation Payment
To. Beneficiary
I am F.B.I David Jackson. And I am among the special agent delegated
by UN United Nations to Africa to investigate fraudsters who has been
swindling Foreigners that came for transaction/contracts in Africa.
Please be informed that during our investigation we got to find out
that you were scammed a huge sum of money by africa people via western
union and Money gram so in this case UN United Nations has mandated
that you must be compensated with the sum
of One Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars
($1,600,000.00 USD) for been a victim. So the said amount will be
transfer to you via Citibank of Amsterdam been the paying bank
mandated by the UN officials.
However, we have to inform you that we have been able to arrest some
of this swindlers who has scammed you of your hard earned money. As
you can see we have a limited time to stay back here so we will advice
you to urgently respond to this message ASAP. And do not inform any of
the people that collected money from you before now about this new
development to avoid jeopardizing our investigation. All you need to
do is to follow our instruction and you will receive your compensation
as directed by the United Nation UN.
We await your response soonest.
DAVID JACKSON
FEDERAL BUREAU INVESTIGATION AFRICA DIVISION INVESTIGATION ON ALL
ONLINE WIRE TRANSFER
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Anti-fraud resources:
