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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "confidential business" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- frank.manager@yahoo.com.au (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "frank andrea" <frankandrea4@mail.mn>
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 05:16:22 -0700
Subject: GET BACK TO ME ASAP!
Dear Friend, I am frank andrea, A manager auditing in accounting department
of my Bank here in united kingdom. I am contacting you in order to ask for
your assistance on this confidential business with full financial benefit
for both of us.
In my department in our bank I discovered an abandoned sum of US$10.M, ( TEN
Million, USDollars) Contact me immediately andrea:frank.via;e-mail; (
frankandrea@mail.mn) for more information. Yours faithfully.VERY URGENT AND
CONFIDENTIAL
E-mail: frank.manager@yahoo.com.au
Anti-fraud resources:
