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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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. )
- "money transfer control number" (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. )
- "cotonou" (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.
- west-union@superposta.com (Superposta; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "MR JOLEG KATSAN," <officefi@superposta.com>
Reply-To: owesternunion46@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:52:24 +0800 (CST)
Subject: PICK UP YOUR PAYMENT OF $5000 MTCN. 97747 70040
FROM WESTERN UNION MONEY
TRANSFER.
COTONOU BENIN REPUBLIC/ADDRESS 455 AGBOKOU,ANKPA
ROAD
WEB SITE.WWW.WESTERNUNION.COM
DIRECTOR (REV FRANK
EZE) OFFICER INCHARGE
INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
E-MAIL: owesternunion46@yahoo. com
Cell Phone: +229 98 43
89 56
Attention My Dear Friend:
This is to inform you that
this office was instructed to pay your fund $10.5Million U.S.A Dollars by
America security leading team and America representative embassy between now
until end of March 2013 per day you will receive the sum of $5,000
Dollars,
However be informed that we
have send the sum of $5000 Dollars this morning to avoid cancellation of your
payment you have only four hours to call this office upon the receipt of this
email the maximum amount you will be receiving per day starting from today is
$5000 in three different payments and the Money Transfer Control Number of today
is below.
MTCN. 97747
70040
sender's Name : william Phillips
Test Question : Today
ANSWER:
Today
Amount : USD 5000.00
Country: Benin Republic
You can track it by typing
: www.westernunion.com and click tracking then you
enter this MTCN : ( 97747 70040) and sender name:william and last
name:Phillips,Once again be advice to reconfirm your information such as;
RECEIVER
NAME__________
HOME
ADDRESS_________
COUNTRY___________
CITY________________
TEL_________________
TEST QUESTION______
ANSWER_____________
Furthermore you advised to
call us as the instruction was passed that within 10 hours without hearing from
you. Count your payment cancelled. Number to call is below listed Manager
Director Office Mr GoodLuck Miracle of release order: +229-98 43 89 56 E-mail
addresses(west-union@superposta.com)
Thanks and my
regards
MR JOLEG
KATSAN,
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Anti-fraud resources:
