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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:
- "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. )
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: Michelle Sign <officcce.information@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Michelle Sign <westerncode@yahoo.pt>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 22:54:12 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Estimado beneficiario
Estimado beneficiario
Hay un problema con la transferencia de dinero de Western Union en el monto de US $ 1.5 millones, en el dueño de esta dirección de correo electrónico. La nación unida y Fondo Monetario Internacional en contacto con nosotros para la liberación de su fondo de hace un par de horas de debido a su código de seguridad asignado deciden transferir a usted a través de Western Union Money Transfer pero son incapaces de completar una transferencia dirigida a un dirección de correo electrónico, por lo que requiere más información para completar esta transferencia se enumeran a continuación.
Nombre completo:
Su dirección postal:
Número de teléfono:
Su copia de escaneo del DNI:
Nota: Este no es uno de esos estafadores de Internet que lo único que hacen es cobrar el pago de los beneficiarios sin enviarlos su fondo, tenemos que trazar un agente de supervisión que hacerlos responsables por lo que todo lo que necesita hacer ahora es enviar su información completa para nosotros, es directamente de la Gerencia de Western Union Money Transfer Benin Sede de la República y nuestro lema es "servir a su mejor". estaremos enviando US $ 5.000 por transferencia porque la transferencia total del fondo en su cuenta le costará más por eso se nos ha dado para ser enviarlo a través de Western Union.
Gracias,
Sra Michelle Sign. (303).
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Anti-fraud resources:
