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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:

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <transferdepartment810@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 16:09:28 -0700
Subject: Re:WESTERN UNION/MONEY GRAM TRANSFER DEPARTMENT.

DEAR CUSTOMERS
 
THERE IS AN ISSUE WITH THE WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER/ WWW.MONEY
GRAM.COM IN THE AMOUNT OF $250.000.00 USD DIRECTED IN CASH CREDITED TO
FILE KTU/9023118308/03, AT THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ADDRESSES/NAME.
 
THE WESTERN UNION /MONEY GRAM TRANSFER ARE COMPENSATING YOU BECAUSE
YOU HAVE REACHED THE LIMIT OF SENDING MONEY THROUGH WESTERN
UNION/MONEY GRAM TRANSFER AND DUE TO YOUR ALLOCATED SECURITY
CODE.PATRONAGE TO OUR SERVICE LAST YEAR 2014.
 
WE CHOOSE TO SEND IT TO AN EMAIL ADDRESS INSTEAD OF A NAME. WE ARE
UNABLE TO COMPLETE A TRANSFER DIRECTED AT AN EMAIL ADDRESS, SO WE
REQUIRE SOME MORE INFORMATION IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THIS TRANSFER VIA
OUR WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER, THE MTCN NUMBER SHALL BE ISSUE TO
YOU AS YOU WILL BE ABLE TO RECEIVE YOUR FUND FROM THE NEAREST SHOP OR
WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER SERVICE .
 
1, NAME:
 
2. CONTACT ADDRESS:
 
3. MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:
 
4. OCCUPATION:
 
5. MARITAL STATUS AND AGE:
 
AS SOON AS THIS INFORMATION IS RECEIVED WE ARE GOING TO PROCEED WITH
THE FIRST RELEASE OF THE SUM OF $9,500 USD THROUGH OUR WESTERN UNION
OR MONEY GRAM TRANSFER.WE ARE SENDING THE FIRST BATCH IN YOUR NAME,
AFTER WHICH THE SECOND BATCH WILL BE RELEASE AGAIN UNTIL WE HAVE
FINISH THE TRANSFER IN YOUR NAME.NOTE THAT AS SOON AS THE TRANSFER IS
MADE WE ARE GOING TO SEND YOU THE TRACKING NUMBER OF THE WESTERN UNION
MONEY TRANSFER ,THE SENDERS NAME ,AND THE RECEIVERS NAME,
 
AS YOU ARE REQUIRE TO TRACK DOWN YOUR PAYMENT ONLINE.CONTACT US ON OUR
EMAIL ADDRESS AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE THIS NOTIFICATION I URGE YOU SEND
THE INFORMATION? SO THAT I CAN PROCEED WITH THE PROCESSING OF YOUR
PAYMENT TO YOU IMMEDIATELY.
 
THE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN UNION /MONEY GRAM TRANSFER HEAD OFFICE ARE
PATRONIZED YOU AS OUR DEAR CUSTOMER.
 
BEST REGARD.
 
MR. ANDREW LEWIS

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