419 scam: Mrs Melinda Boateng <ooffice040@gmail.com> Attn,

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:
- "a security company " (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: Mrs Melinda Boateng <ooffice040@gmail.com>
Reply-To: boateng.melinda@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 09:35:06 -0700
Subject: Attn,

Attn,

In accordance to my religious persuasion, I felt expedient to write and
inform you on the wicked conspiracy hatched by the due of Mr.Eric Robinson
and Mr. Lanre Williams of the Ministry of Finance and some of the Finance
Ministry staffs to divert your money to their designated account in
Europe.From my position as a lowly clerk in this office, I discovered that
they moved the fund from Africa to London, UK and then moved it last week
to Banco Italiano in ITALY. Today I found out through the Central computer
database that they are about to re-route your funds to a security company
in the USA. With this, I felt that it is important for me to alert you on
this development. They are still using your name and contract/inheritance
identification number as the beneficiary but they have changed the account
co-ordinate and this is the reason they are frustrating you by asking for
endless fees in order to buy time pending on when they will transfer your
funds to their designated account in Cayman Islands.

I have the reference number of the transaction and also I have the number
of the official who is directly in charge at the SECURITY COMPANY in the
USA. Your payment is supposed to go through the UK credit control financial
clearing house before final Lodging into the security company there in the
USA. All the data about your claim profile are within my reach. I do not
need gratification from you either in cash or kind. Please respect my
discretion in this matter, you can send an email to me so that I can give
you the reference number and the name and contact information of the
official of the security company in the USA.

God bless you,
Mrs Melinda Boateng

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam