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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)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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.
- mrarwanibrahim@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: mrarwanibrahim <mrarwanibrahim@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 04:55:17 +0530 (IST)
Subject: STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL :
STRICTLY
CONFIDENTIAL :
Dear Friend
I know
that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met before. I am Mr.ARWAN IBRAHIM, the manager of Auditing and Accounting
section of Bank Of Africa (B.O.A) Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso. I Hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and
confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both
families. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the
sum of Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand united state
dollars ($15.5mUSD) Immediately to your
account.
The fund has been
dormant (in-active) for 10 years in our Bank here without any body coming for
it. I want to release the fund to you as the nearest person to our deceased
customer Mr. Andreas Schranner (the owner of the account) who died a long with
his supposed next of kin in air crash since on 31st July 2000. I don't want the
fund to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund, so this is the reason
why I contacted you, so that my Bank will release the fund to you as the nearest
person to the deceased customer.
For more information about the crash
you can visit this site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Please I would like you to keep this
proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested. Upon receipt
of your reply, I will give you more details regarding this transaction and also
note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree to help
me execute this business. And also after the funds has been transfered into your
bank account you will take 10% out as a compensation for the expenses you will
make in this transaction and 50% is for me. I need to hear from you urgent so that I
will give you more information regarding this transaction.
Your Full Name...........................?
Your
Sex.................................?
Your
Age.................................?
Your
Country.............................?
Marital
Status......................?
Your
Occupation..........................?
Your Personal Mobile
N°...................?
Your Personal Fax
N°......................?
Waiting for your urgent response so that
we will starts immediately.
REPLY VIA: mrarwanibrahim@gmail.com
Best Regards,
Mr.ARWAN IBRAHIM.
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