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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:
- "moneygram" (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. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
Fraud email example:
From: "REAL" <office_benin@aol.fr>
Reply-To: realmoneygramoffice2016@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2016 07:32:37 +0100
Subject: REAL MONEY GRAM OFFICE
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REAL MONEY GRAM OFFICE
BENIN REPUBLIC
This message is only for the owner of this e.mail "WARNING TO SCAMMERS"
Hello dear,we are very sorry for the lost of your property over long time
ago in the hands of scammers.
They hacked our network and stole some of our valued information for fraud
work but thank god we got help from the INTERPOL and world anti-fraud group
fighting them every day,we are pleasing any scam victim with $750.000.00
u.s.d as a compensation for their lost of money and disturbance of foul
e.mail spam from the scammers.
Please kindly let us have your full information back such
as,
your name............
your country.........
your address...........
your phone number...........
This is to verify you are not one of those scammers and it will help us to
refile your document for you to start receiving your compensation fund today.
Although we have already made your first payment available ($5.000.00).
Here is the reference number of your first payment, Reference number: (69133972)
Senders name: (Isaiah Ike) Amount: ($5.000.00)
You can verify the reference number by tracking it on our website with this
link- (https://secure.moneygram.com/track).
Just fill the reference number (69133972) and fill the last name of senders name (Ike) then click track to
verify the available of the first payment,THANKS!
REGARDS: MONEY GRAM OFFICE
BENIN REPUBLIC
INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFER.
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Anti-fraud resources:
