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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:
- "atm card department" (this phrase is often used in the ATM card payment scam)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348062901370 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
Fraud email example:
From: "ATM CARD ACTIVATION COMPANY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <juliet_janes@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2003 08:32:57 -0800
Subject: ATM CARD PAYMENT ( SHOULD WE TRANSFER YOUR PAYMENT TO MISS LINDA ROSSEL )
DIRECTOR FOR FUNDS TRANSFER
ATM CARD DEPARTMENT
ADDRESS: 22 TINUBU SQUARE OFF V.ISLAND
LAGOS, NIGERIA
CONTACT NUMBER: +234-806-290-1370
ATTN: Dear Beneficiary,
Compliment of the day to you from our head office, Am writing to inform you that we recieved an urgent letter from the Nigerian Government regarding the transfer/payment of your due funds which is valued at the sum of $5million usd and we have been directed to act immediately towards this issue without any further delay to this process.
The reason why we are contacting you was because a lady by name Linda Rossel came to our office today with a written letter that we should approve the funds on your behalf to her as your representative, so please check and know if you send any body by that name to claim this funds on your behalf as we will facilitate the transfer of the funds to her within 5 days from now as we will believe that she was truely sent by you as the original beneficiary of this funds which is valued at the sum of $5million usd.
Your payment file was accessed today and we found out that your funds which is valued at the sum of $5million usd has not been paid yet because of lack of compliance with the directives as regards the delivery of your ATM CARD to you.
We have also contacted the ATM CARD COMPANY that issued the ATM CARD to you and they informed us that your ATM CARD can be activated online, this services enable you to make transfers or pay online bills from your computer at home direct to any bank account of your choice.
We also have a fast access delivery which means that your ATM CARD can be delivered to you upon 6hours after the delivery requirements has been acknowledged, so you will have to choose the option that you think will be the best for you and have it in mind that you have only 2 weeks to complete this process or the ATM CARD will be deactivated.
You are required to foward to us your full details as stated below if you do no advise us to transfer the funds onbehalf of Miss Linda Rossel.
Full Name:
Address:
Contact Number:
Age:
Occupation:
Country:
Marital Status:
I would also like to have your mobile number so that we can discuss all the details/updates on phone and that will make this pending transactions easy and fast
Best Regards
Dr Juliet Marble
Director For Funds Transfer
ATM CARD Payment Dept.
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Anti-fraud resources:
