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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "hundred thousand us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "robert mugabe" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: From Miss Deborah Okoumba <houche965debo@yahoo.co.th>
Reply-To: mdeborah.okoumba@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 23:46:56 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: A Request for Urgent Business Assistance.
Dear Sir/Madam,
With due respect and love, let me hasten to introduce myself briefly to you. My name is Miss Deborah Okoumba, 21 years old and the only daughter of late Chief Thomas Okoumba from Zimbabwe.
I am writing to solicit for your partnership and assistance in transferring/investing my inherited fund USD$2.500.000 (Two million five hundred thousand US Dollars) from my late father in your country. My late father before he died, was an industrialist and the prime sponsor of the main opposition party (MDC) in Zimbabwe headed by Morgan Tsvangirai. He was killed by the Zanu-PF youth militia loyal to our Dictator President (Robert Mugabe) in their selfish desire to remain in power after losing to opposition party (MDC) in the last held presidential election.
Dictator Mugabe and his Zanu-PF- party have been in power since 30 years now (1980-2010).
Waiting for your soonest mail for details.
Yours Sincerely,
Miss Deborah Okoumba.
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Anti-fraud resources:
