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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:
- "abidjan" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: deborah williams <deborahwilliams33@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: deborahyale001@cantv.net
Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 09:25:05 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Dear one,
Dear one,
Please permit me to introduce myself before I proceed. My name is MS. Deborah Williams Yale from Ivory Coast. I am the only child of my late father Chief Yale Williams. I humbly wish to seek your kind permission to transfer the sum of $US7 million to your country for investment. I inherited this fund as a next of kin . Presently the fund is being deposited in a bank here in Abidjan, by my late father. I want the money to be transferred to your country after which I shall travel out of this country immediately to meet with you at your base. So that I can continue my education as I want to study medicine. While you help me to invest the funds into any good bunsiness venture.
Please confirm the following information to me if you are interested to help me so that I give you more details about myself and the deposit itself.
A. your full name
B. address.
C. telephone number
I wait to hear from you as soon as possible.
yours faithfully,
Deborah Williams
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Anti-fraud resources:
