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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:
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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.
- +447045718424 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "MR. ONOJA LAWRENCE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info-imf0@superposta.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:35:33 +0100
Subject: GOOD MORNING
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Fund Remittance & Investigation Unit
I am pleased to inform you that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is intensively monitoring all activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) making sure that the Central Bank Governor actually complies with foreign beneficiary remittance for the 2012 year, For Security and Transparency reasons all Fund payment for this year has been moved to the Bank of England as the officially paymaster so as to avoid counter claimant, You are advised to contact Sir Mervyn King Governor Bank of England and get back to my office for further security advise regarding your fund remittance
Regards
NB:
KINDLY VIEW THE ATTACHMENT
Mr. Onoja Lawrence
Head of Operation (IMF)
37C Zielna, 00-108 Warszawa
Tell: +447045718424
Fax: +447005800965
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Anti-fraud resources:
