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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "foreign remittance manager" (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)
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Luku Adamu <luku.adamu@sify.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 11:41:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I AM WAITING FOR YOUR URGENT CALL OR EMAIL
FROM: MR. LUKU ADAMU
FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER.
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
My Private Number
Dear Friend,
I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never meet before. I am the FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER of B.O.A Bank of Africa, I Hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.
I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($5.5M) five Million five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars immediately to your account. The money has been dormant (in-active) for eight years in our Bank here without any body coming for it.
I want to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer MR. RICHARD BURSON FROM USA the owner of the account who died a long with his supposed next of kin in plane crash since 2000. I don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund, so this is the reason why I contacted you, so that my Bank will release the money to you as the nearest person to the deceased customer.
Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.
Upon receipt of your reply, I will send you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree to help me execute this business.
Thanks and waiting for your urgent response,
Best Regards
Mr. LUKU ADAMU
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Anti-fraud resources:
