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joewein.de LLC
Fighting spam and scams
on the Internet




Home / Blog / About us
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419/Nigeria
Online fraud
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"419" SCAM – ADVANCE FEE / FAKE LOTTERY SCAM

 * Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
 * Is that email a scam? Check or report it here!
   
 * Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
   (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
 * Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
   1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 * How to report 419 spam to us
 * What can you do when you receive 419 spam
 * Names of people mentioned in 419 spam
 * IP addresses / ISPs used by 419 scammers
 * Email addresses used by 419 scammers
 * Domains registered by 419 scammers
 * Opinions about the scammers and their victims
 * 419 scam trivia and observations
 * Support our efforts to stop scams!

 * 419 scammers demand money
 * "Microsoft lottery" spam
 * "Elgordo Lottery" spam
 * The dead customer scam
 * The dying widow scam
 * Penpal scams - the "Venus flytrap"
 * Company representative scam (why you don't get 10% from a fake check)
 * Commercial fraud: mailorder to Nigeria, eBay, BidPay, credit cards, escrow,
   checks, mobile phone scams
 * Fake international conferences

 * Libya scams from Nigeria
 * Iraq scams from Nigeria
 * Holocaust scams
 * Haiti earthquake scams
 * 419 Katrina scams!
 * 419 tsunami scams!
 * 419 coronavirus scams!
 * Nigerian AIDS cure scam
 * Sierra Leone diamond scam
 * Ghana gold scam
 * Job agency recruitment scams (Nigeria)



The so-called "419" scam (aka "Nigeria scam" or "West African" scam) is a type
of fraud named after an article of the Nigerian penal code under which it is
prosecuted. It is also known as "Advance Fee Fraud" because the common principle
of all the scam format is to get the victim to send cash (or other items of
value) upfront by promising them a large amount of money that they would receive
later if they cooperate. In almost all cases, the criminals receive money using
Western Union and MoneyGram, instant wire transfer services with which the
recipient can't be traced once the money has been picked up. These services
should never be used with people you only know by email or telephone!

Typically, victims of the scam are promised a lottery win (example) or a large
sum of money sitting in a bank account or in a deposit box at a security
company. Often the storyline involves a family member of a former member of
government of an African country, a ministerial official, an orphan or widow of
a rich businessman, etc. Here is an example. Variants of the plot involving the
Philippines, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Mauritius, etc.
are also known. Some emails include pictures of boxes stuffed with dollar bills,
scans of fake passports, bank or government documents and pictures of supposedly
the sender.

Though most of these scams use emails sent in English, we also come across
emails translated into French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Russian, Polish and Czech, Indonesian, as well as English and French
letters by postal mail, usually mailed from Spain.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s (for this is nothing new!) the main vehicle for this
scam were fax machines.

The victims are promised a fortune for providing a bank account to transfer the
money to. Then - if they fall for the scam - they are made to part with
thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in "bribes" for local
officials or other "fees" (taxes, insurance, legal fees, etc) before the
"partners" finally disappear without trace. Here are some typical examples of
advance fee demands.

Sometimes fraudulent cashier's checks are issued to the victims, who are asked
to wire funds for various charges after the bank says funds are "available" from
the check, but before the check has actually cleared. Any transaction that
involves cashing a check for a third party and then forwarding funds from it to
another person you don't know is almost guaranteed to be a scam.



Main storylines of advance fee fraud and other Nigeria-related fraud emails


   
 * Fake lottery win: You won a lottery prize, but to receive it first you must
   pay various fees.
   
 * Company representative scam: Some company in East Asia, Europe or Africa
   needs help receiving payments from customers. They need to use your bank
   account for cashing checks and money orders sent to you. You get to keep
   about 10% for forwarding the funds by Western Union or MoneyGram. Later you
   find out that checks had been either stolen or counterfeit and you're
   suddenly tens of thousands of dollars in debt to your bank.
   
 * Dead foreigner scam: Some foreign owner of a bank account in Africa or Asia
   died without heir. If you pose as a relative, you'll get to keep a slice of
   this, but first you must pay various fees.
   
 * Unpaid contractor/Overcharged government contract: There's an unpaid contract
   with an African government. If you pose as the contractor, you'll get to keep
   a slice of this, but first you must pay various bribes.
   
 * Ex-kleptocrat scam: A family member of a former head/member of government
   somewhere in Africa or Asia has stashed away a few millions and seeks your
   help in moving it, promising you a slice of it, but first you must send money
   to a securities company or lawyer.
   
 * Murdered businessman scam: A family member of a rich businessman in Africa
   who stashed away a few millions before being killed seeks your help in
   retrieving the inheritance, promising you a slice of it, but first you must
   send money to a securities company or lawyer.
   
 * Zimbabwean farmer scam: A farmer or opposition politician from Zimbabwe has
   stashed away a few millions and seeks your help in moving it, promising you a
   slice of it, but first you must send money to a securities company or lawyer.
   
 * Dying widow scam: A rich widow is about to die from breast cancer and wants
   to give you millions to use for charity, but first you must send money to her
   lawyer.
   
 * Dying rich merchant scam: A rich merchant or oil contractor is about to die
   from cancer of the esophagous and wants to give you millions, but first you
   must send money to his lawyer.
   
 * Iraq scam: A US or British soldier in Iraq has come across money or gold that
   Saddam Hussein had stashed away. He/she seeks your help in moving it,
   promising you a slice of it, but first you must send money to a securities
   company or lawyer.
   
 * Yukos oil scam: Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been arrested, but
   before that a few millions were stashed away. An associate seeks your help in
   moving it, promising you a slice of it, but first you must send money to a
   securities company or lawyer.
   
 * Diplomatic delivery scam: Some money or valuables which you have been
   promised in one of the above scam formats (fake lottery, inheritance, etc)
   will be delivered to you by a diplomat who travelled to your country, but
   first you must pay money to this person (by Western Union or in cash).
   
 * Rich investor scam: Some investor with lots of money wants to invest into
   your business or wants you to manage some funds but first you must send money
   to a lawyer to draw up a contract or set up a trust fund.
   
 * Loan scam: Some person in Europe or Africa will lend you money at favourable
   conditions, but first you must send money to their lawyer or bank.
   
 * Credit card order: Someone claiming to live in the USA or UK orders goods on
   a credit card and asks you to send them to Nigeria.
   
 * Oversized cashier's check: Someone wants to buy your car, bike, horse, boat,
   trailer, etc. and will send you a check larger that the sticker value, asking
   you to wire the balance to a "shipping agent" or some other person. Other
   examples include appartment or holiday home rental, purchasing land, hiring a
   wedding photographer, getting violin lessons, sending kids to a nanny, etc.
   
 * Money recovery: A law enforcement officer (in Nigeria, FBI or elsewhere) asks
   you to contact them about scammers you've been dealing with. They promise to
   help you recover your stolen money, but first you need to send more cash.
   
 * Wash wash / black money: Like "money recovery" this is not usually a scam
   format by itself but an element in a larger scam to maximize the amount of
   money stolen. You will be shown bundles of black paper the size of dollar
   bills, which is supposed to be cash promised in the main scam. Supposedly it
   was colored with black ink for security purposes and some special chemicals
   will restore it to its normal state and make the "money" usable, but first
   you need to send more cash to buy those chemicals.
   
 * ATM card payment scam This usually shows up as part of anther scam, such as a
   fake lottery or an "unpaid contractor" scam. You will be promised an ATM card
   via which you can withraw millions dollars (up to at several thousand dollars
   per day) at any bank worldwide, but first you need to send cash to have it
   mailed to you. If it arrives at all, it won't work (because there is no bank
   account, it's just a piece of plastic) and you'll be offered a replacement
   card, for a few thousand dollars more. Any money sent to the criminals by
   Western Union or MoneyGram is lost.
   
 * Job scams: You're being offered a well-paid job in another country, but you
   need to start very soon and before you can do that you need to send cash to a
   fake immigration official or lawyer.
   
 * Immigration scams: They're very similar to fake job scams. You're being told
   there is an easy way to immigrate to the USA or Canada (or some other
   country), but first you need to send cash to a fake immigration official or
   lawyer.
   
 * Fake charity/ministry: An orphanage, pastor, NGO, etc. in an African country
   needs your cash.
   Examples: Prison scam, Christmas charity scam, Church scams.
 * Other formats: Love scam (fake checks), Woman stuck in a hotel, Hospitalised
   in Africa, Real estate agent scam, Glamour model check scam, Cameroon
   adoption scam, Cameroon pet seller scam, Cattle medicine scam, Islamic
   funding from the Sultan of Brunei, Aqua-Chips scam, Rebuild New Orleans
   immigration scam, Script writer scam, 'Call for Papers' scam, CERN black hole
   scam, 'Hit man' scam.
   



Here are some of the fake reasons given to victims why they should send money:

 * Legal fees: Many 419 scams involve a fake lawyer (usually a person who calls
   himself a Barrister or claims to work for a firm whose name includes the word
   "Chambers"). Beware of anyone using a @lawyer.com, @justice.com etc. free
   webmail account who gets introduced in such emails.
 * Insurance: Any lottery prize that is supposedly insured is fake.
 * Shipping: Real parcel services do not charge $800 and more for delivering a
   letter. Real lotteries don't ask you to contact a parcel service to arrange
   for shipping of a check or a winnings certificate that you will have to pay
   for.
 * Wire transfer charges: Real banks charge about $40 for an international wire
   transfer, not several $1000.
 * "Drug free certificate", "Anti Money Laundering certificate", "Terrorist Free
   Certificate": No such certificates exist in the real world. They are 100%
   sure evidence of a scam.

The people who receive the scam emails and fall for them often are not the only
victims of the scam. We have come across a few cases where people who lacked the
funds to cover the advance fee demands committed crimes to get money. They
misappropriated often huge amounts from their employers, from charitable
organizations they worked for or from other acquaintances they defrauded, hoping
they would be able to repay them from the promised millions before anybody would
notice. In this way one crime begets another.



Are you sick of spam too? Do you want it stopped now?
Try jwSpamSpy, the spamfilter we use to track the spammers!
Free 30-day trial version available now!




Spam emails for advance fee fraud differ from "normal" spam in several ways:

 * Most "normal" spam uses bogus sender addresses. For 419 spam existing
   mailboxes at legitimate mail providers are used. When such mailboxes get
   cancelled for abuse, often similarly names mailboxes are created at the same
   provider. Most 419 scams originate from about a few dozen freemailer domains
   (netscape.net, yahoo.com/yahoo.*, tiscali.co.uk, libero.it, telstra.com,
   bigpond.com, indiatimes.com, 123.com (Chile), zwallet.com, fsmail.net,
   hotmail.com, etc., see addresses by domain). A small minority uses throw-away
   domains registered via Rediffmail, MSN (see example), XO/Concentric,
   Yahoo/Geocities or other webhosters (ns.sign-on-africa1.net) as the sender
   instead of a freemailer service, particularly for fake companies and fake
   banks (e.g. firstcapitalft.com).
   
   Recently PHP-Nuke installations with a webmailer are abused for sending mail
   via a webbrowser. In these cases the sender addresses can be fake.
   
   

 * Virtually no effort is made to hide the source of the spam though technical
   means. These spammers rely on the lack of efforts by the respective providers
   to stop their abuse of the service. The spams often trace to servers based in
   African countries (Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, South Africa, Senegal,
   Cameroon, etc.) and are often routed through Europe, Israel, Australia or
   South America. Some "419" mails originate from Europe, particularly from the
   Netherlands, UK and Spain. This is untypical for common spams (Viagra, penis
   enlargement, etc.), which are often routed through China, South Korea, Brasil
   or Russia or are sent from hijacked servers (e.g. broadband hosts infected
   with stealthware) in the United States. The relative absence of common
   cloaking techniques on the sender side means that "419" spam can only be
   distinguished from legitimate email from Africa or Europe by analyzing the
   text of the message, looking for typical phrases and features.
   
   

 * Often the "419" scammers include phone numbers in the email, especially in
   fake lottery scams. Typically these phone numbers are in the Netherlands, the
   UK, Spain or in Nigeria. "419" scammers in the Europe tend to use mobile
   phones with prepaid phone cards. Country code 31 (0031 or +31) is the
   international country dialling code for the Netherlands. All Dutch area codes
   starting with the digit 6 are mobile phone numbers (e.g. 0031-630-835-750,
   +31-630-354-500). Nigerian "419"-numbers are either fixed line or mobile
   numbers (e.g. 234 8043281627, +234 1 4717291). The scammers there are part of
   or closely connected to the political and economical elite of the country.
   Country code 234 (00234 or +234) is the international country dialling code
   for Nigeria. All Nigerian area codes starting with the digits 80 are mobile
   phone numbers:
   
   
   
   Nigeria mobile phone prefixes Econet Wireless Nigeria Ltd802 MTN Nigeria
   Communications Limited803 Nigerian Telecommunications Limited
   (NITEL/M-Tel)804 Globacom805
   
   The only other type of spam that tends to include a phone number is the fake
   "diploma" spam.
   
   

 * Most "419" spam uses plain text while most "normal" spam uses HTML.
   
   

 * Usually no domains are advertised as no websites are involved, except in some
   cases media articles about political events in Africa (the BBC website is a
   popular source) that are meant to give credibility to the background story.
   The initial communication occurs by email, followed by phone and fax
   communication.
   
   

 * The text of the messages varies very little. Often the message body or mail
   subject line uses all capital letters. In many cases the senders make
   religious references, such as belief in God or Allah.

What can you do when you receive a 419 scam mail?

   Whatever you do, never send any money, no matter what reason you are given.
   Don't be greedy, use your common sense.
   
   
   
   
   Don't rush. Why the hurry? 419 scammers make up a deadline after which the
   unexpected (and imaginary) fortune will be lost forever. You're not supposed
   to have time to research and think about the matter.
   
   

 * If the email address is not listed in our blacklist yet, you can submit the
   complete email (if possible with full headers) to us. If we get suitable
   evidence we'll add the 419 scammer to our blacklist.
   
   

 * Report the email to the abuse department of the domain used by the scammer
   (see abuse contact list). Normally you get the email address of the abuse
   department by changing the left hand side of the scam email address to the
   word abuse. For example, if the mail originates from
   mrjephills6@tiscali.co.uk then write to abuse@tiscali.co.uk, if it's
   barristerchris_smith1@zipmail.com.br then write to abuse@zipmail.com.br, etc.
   Please quote the full text of the mail including message headers (in Outlook
   Express you get the full message source via Ctrl+F3; use cut+paste to insert
   that into your email). Even more important than sender addresses are contact
   addressed in the message body, such as "claims agents" of fake lotteries.
   Make sure you report these to the matching abuse department too.
   
   

 * If you have lost money you can report the case to law enforcement in your
   country (if you haven't lost money, law enforcement will not usually be
   interested at all). In the United States (and in most other countries),
   contact your local police.
   
   US residents can also file a fraud report at the website of the Internet
   Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
   
   
   
   * http://www.ic3.gov/
     
   
   

 * If you need to contact law enforcement in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial
   Crimes Commission (EFCC), a body set up by the Nigerian government in 2002,
   may be helpful:
   
   
   * info@efccnigeria.org
     
   * www.efccnigeria.org
     
   
   

 * Fraud emails that involve a phone number in the Netherlands (starting with
   0031-6-, +31-6-, etc.) can be forwarded to the Dutch police using the online
   form
   www.politie.nl/aangifte-of-melding-doen/aangifte-doen/contactformulier-ecrime.html
   
   

 * In most cases, law enforcement in your country will do very little once they
   have confirmed that the criminals are based in Africa. As long as
   international online fraud is considered a low priority item this situation
   will not change. The tide will only turn if the media create public awareness
   that international fraud is largely ignored by law enforcement even though it
   provides hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to foreign criminal
   groups every year. It takes political will to change that. Write to your
   Member of Congress or member of parliament. Write to a newspaper or a TV
   station. Unless you complain about the problem it won't get fixed!
   
   

 * You can "ping" the scammer (bounce a message off his contact address to get
   him to reply) to give them work to do and to help provide evidence to us.
   Please use a disposable Yahoo email account for this.
   
   

 * You can get yourself a spamfilter. If you run a Linux-based mailserver you
   can use SpamAssassin, which recognizes many 419 scam emails.
   
   

 * Some people write to 419 scammers, trying to get them to exchange emails that
   ultimately lead nowhere, so the scammers waste time. It can be very
   entertaining :-) Just don't use your real name and use a disposable email
   account created for the purpose. Visit 419 Eater for examples and advice.
   
   

 * Most 419 scam emails contain phone numbers. When you call such numbers,
   please carefully check the time zone in Nigeria or wherever the criminals
   operate from. I am sure you would not want to accidentally wake someone at
   3am, just because you got confused about the time zones ;-) Make sure you
   disable caller ID or call from a public payphone so as not to leave your home
   or office number on their mobile phone display. Calls to Nigerian mobile
   phones cost as little as €0.20/minute (US$0.25/minute) via SkypeOut. Be
   careful with +44 70 redirection numbers, they cost as much as US$0.90/minute,
   so keep it short.
   
   

 * Other people mail large files such as digital snaps to the contact addresses
   listed in the emails. This can fill up their mailboxes pretty quickly,
   preventing emails by potential victims from reaching the criminals. While
   it's quite effective, it also uses resources of companies who provide free
   email services, potentially affecting their other customers. It's vigilante
   justice. We don't condone it :-)

How to report 419 spam to us
Please see our FAQ:
FAQ: "How to report 419 spam to us"




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some 419 related links:


scamwarners.com - Anti-scam online forum
FraudAid - First aid for fraud victims
Scam Victims United


"Artists Against 419" - fighting 419 scams
419Eater.com - scam baiting forum


"419" scam email sample archives:
2022: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2021: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2020: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2019: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2018: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2017: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2016: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2015: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2014: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2013: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2012: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2011: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2010: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2009: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2008: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2007: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2006: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2005: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2004: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12


"419" scam phone number archives:
2022: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2021: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2020: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2019: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2018: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2017: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2016: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2015: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2014: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2013: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2012: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2011: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2010: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2009: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is a list of senders and domains received over the last couple of
months. In some cases there are duplicates because we received more than one
copy in our mailboxes.

 * by sender address (current)
   
 * Domains registered by 419 scammers
   







Are you sick of spam too? Do you want it stopped now?
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