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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. )
- 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.
- ministry.f@minister.com (Minister; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Tony cooke" <officefile0009@ukr.net>
Reply-To: ministry.f@minister.com
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 19:36:23 +1200 (NZST)
Subject:
ATTENTION;The owner of this email id.
This is to inform you that the federal ministry of Finance with the Presidency Republique Du Benin held a meeting on April First 2012 in regards of the payments of your Lottery winning funds of $3.8musd and the meeting lasted 10days which they concluded it that your Lottery winning funds of $3.8m (three million Eight Hundred thousand Dollars) should be paying to you by western union money transfer at the installemental rate of $6500 daily until you receive your complete Lottery winning funds of $3.8m. in which the first payment has being sent to you today, But the MTCN Number was with Mr Larry M.Land the Director of the Ministry of Finance .And you should call Mr. Larry M. Land immediately and ask him to renew your payment file #:458/08N/2012 and release the MTCN of your first payment to you immediately.
This is the E-mail contact address of Mr. Larry M. Land
E-mail:(ministry.f@minister.com)
E-mail;(ministryfinance605@ymail.com)
Phone;+229 99099136
Note that Mr Larry M. Land was waiting for your contact for urgent renewal of your payment file and give you the MTCN number of your first payment.
And you should not forget to reconfirm your details to him such as
1.your Full Name.....................
2.your address...........................
3.Country.....................................
4.your phone number.....................
5.Your personal id card photo................
6.Gender and Age .......................
8.Occupation and position..............
God Bless you while i wait to hear from you soon.
With Regards
Mrs.Tony Cooke
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