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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: "Miss Muna Adara" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <muna_adara@kimo.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:21:41 -0000
Subject: Dear Partner
Dear Partner,
I am Miss Muna Adara from republic of Cote d'Ivoire. I am writing to solicit your help in invest my inheritance
fund US$11.5m in your country for lucrative business that will benefit both of us. My late father Dr. Adara
George was a reputable wealth business man in our society. He died along side with my beloved mother in
an accident when returning from his office on the date 19/07/2007. Now I have finished my secondary
school here in my country and I have no intention to further my education here due to none political satiability
in my country. Please I rely on you to realize my future vision and you will have 20% of the total sum once the
fund is transfer to your country. I hereby request the below information for documentation purpose to effect the
transaction smoothly.
Your full name
Your resident address
Your telephone and fax number
Your occupation
You are free to reach me through this telephone number: +22544747424 for further clarification.
Thanks in advance for your co-operation
Miss Muna Adara
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Anti-fraud resources:
