419 scam: "Interpol Police"<info> ATTENTION:

joewein.net

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:

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. )
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 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.
- interpolrepot@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Interpol Police" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <interpolrepot@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:36:15 -1000
Subject: ATTENTION:

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

Tel: +16513195420

Attention,

We really hope that this message is coming to you direct and please immediately you receive this message do let us know because we need to Cary on with this imposter's work accordingly,

My dear, we trying to call you to explained you on phone that we have five gentlemen arrested in the Western Union yesterday ,but one of them came from Nigeria and through our investigation we discovered your email address and phone number from them which i used to call you.

Please we don't have anything with you now but all we need is for you to send down your home address and your current phone number and you count very well how much you have spent under scamer's soo far because first thing tomorrow morning we will lead them to court and from the court they will be charge to jail.

So you do mail us back now with this needed details if you don't know the exactly amount you have spent to all this scammer's especial in Benin and Nigeria, UK, under scammer's control then you just tell us that you don't know the amount so that the court will charge the Country how much they will pay you as your re-Compensation.

We await to have the details from you as soon as you get this mail. On what ever happen to Court we will let you know, and inform you next step to follow in other to receive this fund from the bank, contact me directly to my private e-mail id with your details, you can as well call us for more details.

Thanks,

SUPP.FRED JONAH

E-mail: interpolrepot@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam