419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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:
- "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. )
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: Dr William R Mitchell <"www."@car.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: Dr William R Mitchell <o42chamber2014@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:10:21 +0900 (JST)
Subject: YOUR FIRST PAYMENT HAS SENT THROUGH MONEYGRAM OFFICE TODAY CONTACT
THEM NOW,

Hello DEAR.
How are you doing today the email is to inform you that we the chanber.office of the first lady has deposited your fund to moneygram office here in whitehouse washington DC, and they started transfer of your fund immediately the fund was deposite and you have to contact them immediately to pickup your first payment of $5000,00usd so they will transfer anther one to you

person in contact,,,,,,,,,,Dr William R Mitchell
contact ,,,,,,,,,,(917) 725-6169

ask him to give you the refernce number to picuk your fisrt payment

regarding
Kristen lanice

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam