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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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: Abu Joseph <abu.joseph171@gmail.com>
Reply-To: drxxx114@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 11:23:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Hello!!!
Dear friend,
We need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($22.5millionusd) immediately into your account.The money has been dormant for years inour Bank here without any body coming for it.I know that this mail willcome to you as a surprise.I am the bill and exchange manager in BANK OFAFRICA BURKINA FASO IN WEST AFRICA,
I Hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that i am about to repose onyou for the mutual benefit of our both families.We want to release themoney to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the ownerof the account)who died a long with his supposed next of kin in an aircrash since December 2003.We i don't want the money to go into our Banktreasuryas an abandoned fund.So this is the reason why i contactedyou,so that we can release the money to you as the nearest person tothe deceased cutomer,
Please we would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not interested.Uponreceipt of your reply,i will send you full details on how the businesswill be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the abovementioned sum if you agree to transact the business with us.BANK OFAFRICA (BOA).,Burkina Faso-WestAfrica.
MY NAME IS DR Abu Joseph
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Anti-fraud resources:
