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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:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "keep this confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Micheal James" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <asterx.info@centrum.sk>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 12:59:24 +0100
Subject: Re:Confirmation of payment !!
Attn ,
I want to introduce my self as Mr.James Micheal editor at Lake Region Bank. I was going through our account file last week when I saw a file of unclaimed fund.
I got to know of you in genealogy search and decide to make this claim in your favor. All I need from you is your trust and commitment to make this work our.
I have the intention to advice the Bank in London to wire the sum of 12,500.000.00 GBP (Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds) into your account if you will accept this offer.
I will also provide every legal document to back this up and my lawyer will be on standby to help us out.
Kindly get back to me via our email as soon as possible to confirm the authorization of this fund to your account otherwise the fund will be transferred into state treasury if the fund will not be claimed before 30th of April 2010 as the fund has been left untouched since 2002.
Note: You have to keep this confidential (No Third Party ) until the money has been finally transferred to your account so as not to jeopardize all my effort.
I want us to finish this transaction this month, so I will like you to get back to me immediately so that the bank can proceed with the transfer and i want you to take this serious.
Micheal James
Chief Editor,
Tel:00447035923470
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Anti-fraud resources:
