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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.
- 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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- federalmoneybank@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "FEDERAL MONEY BANK NIG PLC" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <FEDERAL_MONEY@SIFY.COM>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:18:53 -0000
Subject: AIRCRASH VICTIM PAYMENT
DEAR FRIEND
THERE IS IN MY BANK AN A/C CONTAINING SUM AMOUNT BELONGING TO Late DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY AN AMERICAN WHO DIED IN THE OCT 22ND 2005 BELVIEW FLIGHT 210
AIR CRASH IN KENYA AIRWAYS IN 2003 .
YOU CAN CONFIRM THE ABOVE STORY FROM CNN;-
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html
AND ALLAFRICA.COM;-
allafrica.com/stories/200510240094.html
I AM THE A/C OFFICER TO THE LATE DR GEORGE BRUMLEY , AND I HAVE
ACCESS THAT CAN MAKE ME CHANGE THE A/C NAME TO YOUR NAME AS THE NEXT OF
KIN TO THE LATE DR AND WIRE THE FUNDS INTO YOUR
ACCOUNT .
IT IS GOING TO BE 100% RISK FREE TRANSACTION, I WILL ENSURE TO USE
THE BEST MEANS OF SENDING IT OUT TO YOUR ACCOUNT AS TO AVOID BEING
TRACED.
AKNOWLEDGED RECEIPT OF THIS MAIL AND REPLY TO;-
FEDERALMONEYBANK@AIM.COM
FESTUS
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Anti-fraud resources:
