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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "s_kone2009@cantv.net" <s_kone2009@cantv.net>
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:29:37 -0430
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL ASSISTANCE
Dear respectful one.
My name is stanley kone i am 19 years
old from Liberia. Please go through below my mail to see if you can assist
for our mutual benefit. My late father was a cocoa and gold business
man.
He died in a motor accident with my mother one week after his
trip to Abidjan Cote d' Ivoire to negotiate on a cocoa business he wanted
to invest in. My mother died instantly and my father followed up five days
after in the hospital. May there soul rest in perfect peace.
Before the death of my father, he disclosed to me about
sum of ($7..5, 000,000US) he deposited in a bank in Cote d' Ivoire for the
investment with my name as next of kin.
I am a novice in terms of
business and can not be able to handle investment of the money by my self
and do not want to involve my relatives as instructed by my late
father.
I solicit for your assistance to guard me invest the money
as partners under your care.
If we happen to do this together,
before any thing is done with the money,
I will give you 10% of the
total money as compensation for your assistance.
I look forward
to hearing from you for more details if you are willing andable to handle
this.
Best regards.
stanley kone
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Anti-fraud resources:
