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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "affidavit of claim" (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. )
- "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. )
- "affidavit " (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "foreign payment department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "international remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "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.
- 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.
- 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.
- lamido_s53@hotmail.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Lamido Sanusi <lamido_s53@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: lamido_s53@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:40:06 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
HEAD FOREIGN PAYMENT DEPARTMENT
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT
Federal Ministry Of Finance,Abuja-Nigeria
Our Ref-CBN/BD/PEMU/FGN/MIN/04-09
Compensation Beneficiary,
OUTCOME OF MEETING BETWEEN CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA(CBN)AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND(IMF)
The Central Bank of Nigeria in Conjunction With the International Monetary Fund (IMF is given out a compensation to victims of scam perpetrated by Nigeria scammers. ina board meeting held yesterday, your email address was nominated as one of the beneficiaries of this compensation scheme. your email address was selected as one of the 100 recipients to receive a compensation of Four million Five Hundred Thousand US Dollar as the first face of compensation beneficiaries. this project is inline with the CBN and IMF joint mandate to compensate victims of scam who have lost a lot of money to scammers in Nigeria.
for the release of your compensation funds, you will be required to provide the following details to us immediately for the transfer of your compensation funds to your home bank account
Name:
telephone Number:
Account Number:
Name of Bank:
Address of Bank:
Swift or Sort Code if any:
Country/State
Occupation/Age,sex:
Drivers license/Int Passport:
Your Compensation funds will be weird directly into your account once we receive these details Also you will be required to obtain an affidavit of claims which will be sent to to the transferring bank that will transfer your funds to you. the affidavit is necessary to prevent you from paying any other form of handling charges like taxes or for other transfer certificates the affidavit will cost you $155 and you are to make the payment to our account department via western union to speed up the process.
you are to make the payment of$155 to the officer in charge with details below
RECEIVER'S NAME: ADIGWE FELIX
ADDRESS: LAGOS - NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION: ACT
ANSWER: FAST
AMOUNT: $155 USD
Amount:$155;SendersName:..?;MTCN Number:....?
You are to send the details of your account above and along side the payment details of the western union payment of $155 to us immediately so we can proceed with the transfer of your compensation funds. Once we receive your details, we will obtain the affidavit at once and proceed with the transfer of one millionUSA dollars to your account immediately. you are to provide these details so we can proceed.
Contact email:lamido_s53@hotmail.co.uk
Phone: +234 706 3928 181
Mr. LAMIDO SANUSI
Central Bank Of Nigeria Governor.
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