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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Michael Hans" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaelhans45.vip@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 08:26:19 -0800
Subject: Re: Happy New Year
Dear Sir ,
I am an auditor here in an American Bank and i have a serious business i will like
to discuss with you . I will appreciate if you can respond to this
mail accordingly as it will enable me to know what next to do. But if
you cannot please do delete and forget the inconveniences.
In a nutshell it is about a supply that was made by an Asian company
and unfortunately there was an over invoice by the secretary of the
company and the buyer has paid the fee into the UK account of the
Asian company , the goods was delivered since last two months .
Although the fee was paid in three installments , so as the secretary
directed the actual amount has been remitted to the Asian company
remaining the balance (or over invoiced amount) amounting to some
millions of dollars. Now ,because of his (personal/official) problems
he wanted to remit the money to another account where he can have
access to it and withdraw it latter to open his own business in China.
As he does not understand English very well and the fund is now
stranded in the bank here, he wanted me to assist him in getting a
willing partner to work with us who can take 30% of the total amount
while i take 20% as the banker ( coordinator) who will facilitate all
the transfer while the remaining 50% will be for him .Everything will
be smoothly and legally handled by me .The transaction ref number is :
HB120013/889775/USCH.
Note that you can open a new and fresh account for the purpose of this
transfer or you can use a personal or company account as far as it
will accommodate it .
Please do get back to me urgently if you can so that i can furnish you
with more details .
Email or call me as soon as you receive this message .
Thanks and regards ,
Michael Hans
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Anti-fraud resources:
