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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. )
- "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)
- "cotonou" (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.
- 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.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Alexander Edwin" <asuka_nozaki_1@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: "Mr. Alexander Edwin" <alexanderedwin368@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2015 10:01:32 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Diamond Bank: Benin Republic
Bank info: Telex 5022,
Diamond Bank: Benin Republic
Phone: +229-99750543
Good day: Dear,
I am Mr. Alexander Edwin: The Managing Director of Diamond Bank for the Benin Republic and am writing this message just to inform you that your transaction file has been approved with sum of
$3.2million dollars through the help of Dr. Pete the Director General Of Ministry Of Finance for the Benin Republic, and we were instructed to
contact you through your email id. on how to transfer the fund to your bank account because Dr. Pete stated clearly that the funds was deposited on your name as a
compensation for the funds that you lose through Emotional Blackmail that disobeyed the rule of government, but I promise you that such a thing
will not going to happen again because those Emotional Blackmail are now monitoring by the Internet operated switch andFBI CLEARANCE POLICE.
Now submit any of your bank account details that you can use to receive the deposited funds.
Account Name: ....................
Account No: .........................
Phone No: ...........................
Country: ..............................
Please be-careful when listing down the bank account details to avoid wrong
transfer on this transaction and note that there mistypes of
document you will sign before we can proceed for the transferring of the funds to your own personal bank account. and I want to let you know that am in my office right now with the
lawyer who I pleaded to help you and sign the document normally, and he promise
me that all the document must be surely signed as we wanted, once you pay for the signing fee. but he mention $105-usd as a charge fee.
So go to any western union or money
gram office with this information listed below and send the lawyer
certificate signing fee cost $105 dollar only and get back to us with
the payment details to enable us sign the certificate and transfer your
$3.2million USD into your own personal bank account.
Here is the information that you will use to send the certificate signing fee.
Receiver's Name:..John Ajide
Country:...Benin Republic
City: Cotonou
Text Question: ..When
Text Answer: ....Soon
Amount of fee: ..$105
Zip Code:.........+229
Await your respond as soon as possible to enable us finalized all the necessary of your transferring funds on time.
Best Regard
Mr. Alexander Edwin
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