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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:
- "moneygram" (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. )
- "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. )
- "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. )
- "we advice you" (this email uses bad English)
- "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.
- MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a 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.
- 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.
- moneygrameoffice66@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: ROSE NELSON <"www."@siren.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: ROSE NELSON <moneygrameoffice66@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 19:31:46 +0900 (JST)
Subject:
The International Monetary Fund Annual Compensation from USA.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is compensating some scam
Victims and your email address were found in the scam victims list.
This MoneyGram®office has been mandated by the IMF to transfer your
Compensation to you via MoneyGram®Money Transfer.
However, we have concluded to affect your own payment through
MoneyGram®Money Transfer, $5000 par day until the total sum of
$5.3 Million USD is completely transferred to you the
Receiver. We cannot be able to send the payment with your email
Address alone, we are here by needed your information to where we will
be sending the funds.
Here is the information to pick up your first payment of $5000
through Money Gram store close to you.
Money Reference Number (REF):69133972
Sender's First Name: kejko
Sender's Last Name: use this last name and track your fund ike
Reference#69133972 (Track the Reference by visiting___
https://secure.moneygram.com/track)
GET BACK TO US WITH YOUR FULL INFO TO AVOID WRONG TRANSFER
Receivers name ______________
Country_______________
Address_______________
Phone Number _______________
Your Age_______________
ID copy_______________
BEFORE YOU CAN BE ABLE TO PICK UP YOUR FIST PAYMENT YOU WILL PAY FOR THE TRANSFER
CHARGE OF $95 so my dear we advice you to Proceed to any money gram around you and
make the payment of $95 usd so That we can proceed with your transfer with out any further delay.
HERE IS THE INFO YOU WILL USE TO SEND THE TRANSFER CHARGE THROUGH MONEY GRAM OFFICE
RECEIVERS FIRST NAME_____Marclo
RECEIVERS LAST NAME_____Udoh
COUNTRY__________BENIN REPUBLIC
CITY_____COTONOU
TEXT QUESTION_____URGENT
TEXT ANSWER ::::::;NEEDED
AMOUNT:::::::$95 USD
NOTE: That your payment files will be returned to the IMF within 42hours if we
did not hear from you because this was the instruction given to us by the IMF
Office here in BENIN REPUBLIC. We will start the transfer as soon as we received
Your information and the MTCN of the transfer charge
Best Regard
ROSE NELSON
moneygrameoffice66@gmail.com
TELEPHONE NO:(+229-99718618)
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Anti-fraud resources:
