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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:
- "western union" (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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- "wut-stuoffice@economistas.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: Office Notification <info_n960@verizon.net>
Reply-To: wut-stuoffice@economistas.com
Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 02:06:18 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: RE: Westernunion African Regional Final Notification On Pending Payments.
Attention Beneficiary .
RE: Westernunion African Regional Final Notification On Pending Payments.
This is to officially notify you that our Western Union African Regional operations/payment recoincilliation Committee has reviewed your payment file and issued payment authourisation order to the Special Transfer Unit(WUMT-STU) to immediately start transfering your daily $5000 twice daily until your total amount of $3.500,000 USD being part payment of your fund is paid in full.
This gazette was released after a 8 hour joint meeting of Western Union International and joint committee of African ministers of finance, Central Bank of Afrique and US Embassy. This resolution was championed by the US Embassy due to the numerous complaints levied by American nationales whose payments has been seized, held or delayed due
to numerous taxes and fees. We have now resolved the hitches and you are advised to contact the WesternUnion Money Transfer Special Transfer Unit for the re-instatement of your payment file. He will be giving you further directives to this regards.
We appologise for the inconvienencies you might have had before while in the quest to receiving your fund and we assure you that the problem has been resolved and you can now receive your fund without further delay through our Special Transfer Unit. Contact the director immediately on the contact information below and you are mandated to round up with your re-instatement of your fund within 7 days. This takes immediate effect from this day.
All beneficiaries that do not comply to this directive within the stipulated time frame(7 days) will not blame anyone for non-payment as non processed payment files will be refered back to the Federal reserve account as unclaimed payment.
STU
Contact Information:
WUMT-STU Office
Director: Mr. Emmanuel Robert
Email: wut-stuoffice@economistas.com
Phone: 00229 9689 2185
Finally, the first payment has been generated and the MTCN is stated below( You are required to re-instate your payment folder with STU office before this transaction can be uploaded to the western union central system for pay out there for you are also advise to contact the above with your full receiving detail as)- receiver name phone text question and answer.
Sender First Name: Onyeka Onuorah
MTCN: 019-403-0676
TRACK ONLINE ON www.westernunion.com
There is no time to waste, go ahead and clarify with the STU Officer and start receiving your money. You have just Seven (7) days to process your payment file.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Yours in service.
Hon.(Mrs.)william sara
Chairperson:
Payment Recoincilliation Board
AFRO-ASIA Chapter.
UN-IMF.
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