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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:
- "security keeping fee" (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. )
- "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. )
- "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.
- 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 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.
- oscarigwe370@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Oscar Igwe" <"www."@bronze.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "Mr. Oscar Igwe" <oscarigwe370@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2017 00:27:01 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Attention : Package Beneficiary! Oscar Igwe +1 229 329 7329
Attention : Package Beneficiary!
I am in receipt of your email regarding the delivery of your package to your door step and I am very much pleased when I read your email and I want to use this opportunity to thank you for responding to me on time.Since you have been able to reconfirm to us your full delivery information as requested there will be no more delay regarding your parcel delivery but take note that we shall let you have the tracking number of your package as soon as we dispatch it and the airway bill will be sent to you too.
But before we proceed we want you to kindly send to us our security keeping fee of $95 via western union with the below information and make sure you email us the
MTCN and senders name for easy pickup by our cashier.
Receiver's Name================: Okafor Paul Chinedu
Country: ==============: Nigeria
City========: Lagos
TEXT..QUESTION: ======= Who
TEXT..ANSWER: ===========God
Senders Name: ==============
MTCN: ================
AMOUNT: ============== $95
Your urgent responds is needed as soon as you receive this email and we shall immediately dispatch your parcel as soon as we confirm the payment details of the
requested security keeping fee of $95
Regards
Oscar Igwe
+1 229 329 7329
Email... oscarigwe370@yahoo.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
