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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: "williams johnson " <www.@sweet.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "williams johnson " <westernunion0706@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2018 00:50:19 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Hello Dear
this is to inform you that (IMF) of Benin Republic has deposited the sum of $9.8 million USD as your scam victim compensation in western union Paying Bank Account to transfer to you and it has been ordered that you must provide your full information's correctly to us to verify with the information's we have for best transfer with out anymore delay this year 2018 as your fund awarded to transfer to you.
Kindly provide the below information to western union agent immediately and you can as well call him on (+1 458) 227-7371 for urgent notification.
Your name..........
Country..............
Address.................
phone number...............
Be advise to contact the western union agent as soon as possible and bear it in mind that you can only be receiving $4,500.dollars twice daily from them which was the arrangement of your daily payment this year.contact the below person to attend to you.
Contact person
Mr.williams johnson,western union agent
phone number(+1 458) 227-7371
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Anti-fraud resources:
