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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:
- "lagos" (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.
- 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.
- icp.consultanat@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: IMF <agonzalez6@ipostel.gob.ve>
Reply-To: IMF <icp.consultanat@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 13:26:14 -0430 (VET)
Subject: PLEASE PAY URGENT ATTENTION TO RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT
Attention: Honorable Beneficiary,
The International Monetary Funds, IMF has authorized my Office to settle all the Foreign Debts owed by the Nigeria Government. The IMF Foreign Policy and Currency Regulation offered loan of $23 billion to Nigeria Government based on the Agreement $2 billion was mapped out for the Foreign Debts and your name was among those Beneficiaries to be paid through my Office.Based on these all the money you have had spent in the course of getting this money in the past must be included as no money will be lost. Therefore, you are directed to state categorically the total amount you had spent before and forward it to my Office now before the total payment will be made on your behalf.
Your payment this time will be taken place immediately and under 72 Hours the payment of $15m was approved on your behalf and will be transferred to you immediately. You are requested to reply with your full information such as:
Your Names
Your Address
Your Phone
Your personal
Contact: icp.consultanat@gmail.com
Kindly reply now.
Yours,
John Marcinek
IMF COORDINATOR AFRICA
LAGOS / NIGERIA
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Anti-fraud resources:
