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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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "World Link Finance Limited" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info@worldlinksolution.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:35:48 +0100
Subject: ORDERLY ONLINE PAYMENT PROTOCOL (OOPP) PHASE 1
ORDERLY ONLINE PAYMENT PROTOCOL (OOPP) PHASE 1
We wish to notify you that the Chair person of the World Bank, has finally instructed for the release of your overdue payment which has been in our custody for verification. This payment has been under Scrutiny for a while now; we investigated and found that there was a possible money laundering activity in play due to involvement of unlicensed individuals, and suspicious corrupt officials who have been in possession of this fund transfer earlier after we have noticed criminal activities of extortion.
We have been instructed by the World Bank for further credit to pay you your Contract Payment/Inheritance and Lottery Winning Prize Awards worth GBP 2.3M. Hence you should forward the following details to World Link Finance Limited in charge of issuing out payments to beneficiaries
Your Full Names.................
Your Residential Address.......
Your Country and Zipcode......
Your Phone Number(s)............
Your International passport........
Your Sex and Age.....................
Your Occupation......................
Your Marital Status...................
You must be wondering the use of this information which we are requesting well we need them for the sake of security and proper verification in order to avoid any mistake in the form of scam, fraud or misrepresentation. You must be advised that First World Link Finance Limited have their obligation for transfer which you are strictly advised to follow.
Upon the receipt of your response, World Link Finance Limited will proceed for immediate payment of your fund as soon as they receive the required information for proper confirmation of your payment.
Yours truly,
Mr. Trevor Clarke
World Link Finance Limited
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This document is strictly confidential and is intended for use by the addressee unless otherwise indicated. This email has been scanned by an external email security system.
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