419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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. )
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "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.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
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.
- +22968568555 (Benin, probably a prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: Barrister James Morgan <filefileofficeofice@gmail.com>
Reply-To: barrister_jamesmorgan@lawyer.com
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 07:08:40 -0700
Subject: DO I BELIEVE THAT MR MARK JAMES TO YOUR NEXT OF KIN ? OK IF NOT WHY
DO YOU SENT HIM TO CLAIM YOUR FUND ON YOUR BEHALF ????

DO I BELIEVE THAT MR MARK JAMES TO YOUR NEXT OF KIN ? OK IF NOT WHY DO
YOU SENT HIM TO CLAIM YOUR FUND ON YOUR BEHALF ????

Attn: Beneficiary

I hope this was the second time am sending you this message. My name
is Barrister (James Morgan) the head of Dike Freedom chamber benin
republic, I want to inform you that your fund transfer file was
brought to my office for me to replace your name from your fund
compensation transfer file and replace it with your brother 's name
Mr. Mark James who you sent to claim your fund as a next of kin
because the director of the western union office here in Benin
Republic said that you don't want to receive your fund any more
because you failed to send them the fee to update your western union
transfer file which is $150.00 usd before you start receiving your
fund $5,000 daily according to western union director who stated that
they advised to transfer to you $5,000 daily until the your fund
$2.7million is completely transferred to you, in his words, he said
that you abandon your fund for some time now without hearing from you,

Right now my spirit did not allow me to replace your name in your fund
transfer file because I know the value and the important of what you
are about to receive, I told the director of the western union office
to wait until I heard from you today and I will know the reason you
send your brother to claim your fund as next of kin and rejected such
amount of ($2,700.000.00 usd) which I know it can be able to change
your life for good just because of this fee $150.00,

I want your urgent response or your call me at +229 68568555 as soon
as you receive this email and to explain to me the reason you send
your brother to claim your fund as next of kin and abandon your fund
without hearing from you, so if you don't need it again then i will
sign and change your name to your brother Mr. Mark James so that the
Government will not claim this money that is left for.

If you are finding it difficult to get the fee $150.00 I 've already
pleaded the director of western union Mr David Patrick to update your
transfer file at least when you received your first installment of
$5,000 you will pay him the $150.00 with interest, but he refused and
said if you cannot be able to come up with the total fee right now you
can send the half of the payment which is the sum of $75.00 US Dollars
then once you received your first payment of $5,000 you will pay the
balance of $75.00 with interest. If you are satisfied with the above
directives kindly send the half of fee with their cashier accountant
officer,

I hereby urged you to call or email me urgently for your comments
which will be highly appreciated if you are still alive or not on sick
bed with sum of half require of updating fee $75.00 which you will
send before they will start transferring your fund to you $5,000 per
daily,

Send the updating fee to below information for immediately update your
transfer file today and you will start receiving your fund from
western union head office immediately today,

Below is their cashier accountant officer Receiver's Data / information:

Receivers Name: Francis Igbeke
City : Cotonou
Country: Benin Republic
Text Question: How Long
Answer: Today
Sender s Name
MTCN#. .

I will wait to hear from you as soon as possible together with payment
information to enable you start receiving your fund from western union
without your fund transfer file being replaced by your brother today
as they brought your transfer file,

Remember that i'm here with your western union transfer file and am
advised to replace your name from your western union transfer file
with your brother and start transferring your fund to him as next
,Unless you send them the half payment today then will go ahead and
start transferring your fund to you,

Finally I want to do your best and send the fee so that they will
start processing on your fund for transfer with 4hrs ON YOUR BEHALF.

I wish you good luck.
Yours in service
Barrister James Morgan
TEL: +229 68568555

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam