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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:
- "money-gram" (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. )
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- onlineonline446@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: John Benson <bensonj464@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: John Benson <onlineonline446@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 17:19:54 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: ARE YOU READY TO PICK UP YOUR FIRST PAYMENT US$7000.00 SENT TODAY?
 Dear Sir / Madam.
We receive Instruction from (F.M.F) office FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE to send your payment through Money-Gram directed in cash credited to file (KTU/xx77689), at the owner of this email address. ($2.800.000, 00 USD) two million eight hundred thousand united states dollars will be completely transferred to you.Meanwhile, The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (I.M.F) contacted us for the release of your money a couple of hours ago due to your allocated security code.
The said that they choose to send it to you through Money-Gram instead of courier services because there's many fake couriers companies here, so we don’t trust any of them. We are unable to complete a transfer directed at an email address, so we require some more information in order to complete this transfer.
NAME................
MARITAL STATUS............
BIRTH DATE................
MOBILE PHONE..............
OCCUPATION:...............
CONTACT ADDRESS...........
CITY......................
STATE/PROVINCE............
COUNTRY...................
ZIP/POSTAL CODE...........
so please contact Money-Gram via below information to pick up your US$7000.00 per day:
Contact person Dr.Mandela Freeman
Email (onlineonline446@gmail.com).
Yours Faithfully.
Mr. John Benson
Foreign Operation Manager.
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Anti-fraud resources:
