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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:
- "million united state 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)
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Marie Ahmed <mareahmedi2@msn.com>
Reply-To: <marahmedi@live.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:37:34 +0000
Subject: Greetings
Greetings
Peace and greetings, Good a thing to write you. I have a proposal for you, this however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour against your will. I kindly introduce myself to you I am Miss Marie Ahmed the daughter of late Mallam Ali Ahmed. Please permit me to explain my plight which i beleive by faith that you are God's messenger of destiny to help me.
My father was a very wealth cocoa merchant in Abidjan,the economic capital of Ivory coast, my father was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings on a business trip. My mother died when I was a baby and since then my father took me so special.Before the death of my father in a private hospital here in Abidjan he secretly called me on his bed side and told me that he has the sum of FOUR MILLION United State Dollars. USD(4M USD) left in fixed / suspense account in one bank here in Abidjan ,that he used my name as his only daugther for the next of Kin in depositing of the fund. He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his busines associates.That I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice where I will transfer this money and use it for investment purpose such as real estate management or hotel management and complete my university study.
I am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as for your effort/input after the successful transfer of this fund into your nominated account overseas so please dear send to me your details contact to enable the bank proceed with the transfer to your account.
Please reply here for security reasons ( marahmedi@live.com )
I wait your urgent reply.
Thanks and May Almighty God bless you.
Miss Marie Ahmed
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