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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:
- "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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.John Luis." <western.@joy.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "Mr.John Luis." <mrjohnluis65@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 20:33:56 +0900 (JST)
Subject: 2018 SCAM VICTIM'S COMPENSATION FROM THE IMF BENIN.
2018 SCAM VICTIM'S COMPENSATION FROM THE IMF BENIN.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is compensating all the scam victims and
your email address was found in the scam victim's list.
This Money Gram office has been fully mandated by the IMF to transfer your compensation to you
via Money Gram Money Transfer.
However, we have concluded to affect your own payment through Money Gram
Money Transfer, $10000 daily until the total sum of $10.500.000 Million
is completely transferred to you.
We can not be able to send the payment with your email address alone,
thereby we need your information as to where we will be sending the funds,
such as;
Receiver’s name:...................
Your Full Name
Address:......................
Country:..................
Phone number:...................
Reply back
with your full information. Note that your payment files will be returned to
the IMF within 22 hours if we did not hear from you, this was the instruction
given to us by the IMF. We will start the transfer as soon as we received your
information.
Thanks and God bless you,
Mr.John Luis.
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Anti-fraud resources:
