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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:
- "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. )
- "money transfer control number" (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.
- 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.
- westeruniondir.office40@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Director Western Union Mr Eric Samuel" <ines@frubis.com>
Reply-To: westeruniondir.office40@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2023 18:46:51 -0400
Subject: Dear Beneficiary Your Urgent Response is needed.
This is to inform you that this office was instructed to pay your fund
$8.5 Million U.S.A Dollars by America security leading team and America
representative embassy between now until end of NOVEMBER 2023 Because we are
working on our annual Country Calculation, so that we can be able to make
next year budget, as per day you will receive the sum of $5,000 Dollars,
However be informed that we have send the sum of $5000 Dollars this
morning to avoid cancellation of your payment you have only 48 hours to
call this office upon the receipt of this email the maximum amount you
will be receiving per day starting from today First $5000 in three
different payments and the Money Transfer Control Number of today is
below.
You can track it by typing :
https://www.westernunion.com/global-service/track-transfer
then you enter this MTCN NUMBER:#5217894893
Sender's First Name:_ Moses
Sender's Last Name:___ Egini
Once again be advice to reconfirm your information such as;
(full Name*:
(Your Address*:
(Your Country*:
(Phone Number*:
(Your Age*:
(Occupation*:
(ID copy*:
(Email Address*:
Director Mr Eric Samuel of release order
Phone Number: +229 50807480.call or Whatsapp
Email:(westeruniondir.office40@gmail.com)
NOTE: That your payment files will be returned to the United States
Treasurer Departments account within 48hours if he didn't hear from you
because this was the instructions given by Federal Minister Administrator
Trust Fund. Mr Eric Samuel furnish your payment to you as soon as he
receives reconfirmation of your above information and your Transfer Permit
and Fund Release Order Certificate charge fee.You are hereby warned not to
communicate or duplicate this message to anyone for security reasons due
to Fraud.
Sincerely,
WESTERN UNION CEO
Mr Hikmet Ersek.
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Anti-fraud resources:
