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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "west africa fund monitoring unit" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Charles Iheka <godwincbnemefiele655@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ihekacharles0@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2019 10:05:55 +0100
Subject: Your message!!
FROM THE DESK OF: MR Charles Iheka
PAY MASTER GENERAL
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Dear Beneficiary,
This is to officially inform you that we have written to you before
without getting respond from you and we believed that our previous
mail did not get to you therefore we decided to write you again. We
are contacting you concerning the release of your inheritance/Contract
Payment which have been delayed for transfer by some incapable
officials who claimed to be in position of your fund during the past
Government,thereby extorting money from you in one way or the other.
Your Fund has finally been approved for Payment by the (West Africa
Fund Monitoring Unit) Your fund will be pay to you via ATM MasterCard
which is cash-able in any ATM machine or Bank anywhere in the world.
We hereby inform you that the ATM card worth Ten Million Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars only (USD$10.5 Million) and has been
deposited in your ATM CARD.
Therefore you are warned to stop any further communication with
anybody or office's concerning your inheritance/Contract Payment to
avoid complication for you not to lose the Fund.
Your fund to be released via ATM MasterCard in act to uphold the rule
of law which we represent.You have to reconfirm the information's
below for security reasons.
Full Name:__________
Delivery Address:____
Country:_______
Occupation:_____
Phone Number:____
Age:______
sex:______
Waiting for your urgent respond.
Best Regards,
MR Charles Iheka
Pay Master General
Federal Republic of Nigeria
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Anti-fraud resources:
