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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. )
- 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 free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrs.lucianwabenne@rediffmail.com (Rediffmail, India; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: fasy way courier company <terrygilson399@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: mrs.lucianwabenne@rediffmail.com
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 20:37:06 +0530 (IST)
Subject: WELCOME TO FAST WAY COURIER COMPANY BENIN REPUBLIC.
WELCOME TO FAST WAY COURIER COMPANY
BENIN REPUBLIC.
FASTWAY COURIER
SECURITY COMPANY
Contact: Mrs lucia Nwabenne
Address:
Avenue Stermetz Rue 1255
Porto
novo of Benin
Republic.
Attention: Dear ,
With
regards to your Atm
Card worth $3.800.000.00 USD deposited
in our Company by Mr Peter John from Bank of African here in Benin
Republic, I wish to inform you that instructions was passed to our company to
commence with the delivery of your ATM
Card as soon as you contacted us and
reconfirm your current delivery address.
We have finalize the delivery
arrangement and will forward the tracking details to you as soon as it is
dispatched to you.
Meanwhile we can not commence on the delivery
without our signing fees of your Atm
Card which $88.00usd, for the delivery fee and that is what will delay
your Atm Card not to leave this country today and we can not commence on the
delivery without having the signing fees first and it is $88.00usd only.
============================================================
you are to send our signing fee of
just $88.00usd with this information bellow through western union money
transfer for easy confirmation and
immediate delivery of your atm card.
Receiver:::::::::::::::::: john
chukwuma
Country:::::::::::::::::Benin
Republic
City:::::::::::::::::::::::: Porto
Novo
Questions::::::::::::::year?
Answer:::::::::::::::::2011
Amount::::::::::::::::$88.00usd
Sender's Name:::::
M.T.C.N::::::::::::::::
Send us the fee with this E-mail ;
( mrs.lucianwabenne@rediffmail.com
) We will forward the tracking number of
your package as soon as we got everything done.
Please remember to reconfirm
your mailing address to me again to avoid wrong delivery okay.
I will be waiting for your
call as soon as you get this email for your delivery update.
Thanks we await
for your urgent response.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs lucia
Nwabenne.
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Anti-fraud resources:
