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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: gifson john <vandudanbaba5@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ministryfinance1111@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2022 19:54:23 -0700
Subject: Good News.
--
My Name is John Gifson from money gram and i am contacting you in
regard of your compensation fund of $ 14.5 million usd that was given
to you by the new The new government of UK (N.G.B.R) inc ollaboration
with USA international monetary fund(I.M.F) which You are meant to be
receiving $5000 per day until you have receive your total fund?
You have only six hours to call this office upon the receipt of this
Email the maximum amount you will be receiving per a day starting from
today is $5000 and the Money transfer reference number of today is
below?
Reference numbers===4*8782184
Senders name=======Nekwe
Amount ===========$5,000
https://secure.moneygram.com
Here is the information you will use to pick up your first payment of
$5,000 through money gram office.
Click the blue link and track it with the senders last name which is
Nekwe let me know once you confirmed that is it ready for pick up so
that I can direct you how to pick it
You have to go pick it any close money gram location around you
But it will cost you the activation charge before you will be able to pick it
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Anti-fraud resources:
