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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:
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "David Kwok" <david_kwok@live.com>
Reply-To: ddkwok@yahoo.cn
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:14:30 -0300 (BRT)
Subject: Good Day.
Good Day.
Season Greetings to you and your family. My name is David Sek-chi Kwok, I
am a staff of Bank of Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, I have a
business proposal for you that will be beneficial to the both of us. This
proposal has to do with funds transfer.
Gen. Hussein Ali Youssef of the Iraqi Army and businessman made a fixed
deposit in my bank. We later found out that the General along with his
wife and only daughter had been killed during the war in a bomb blast that
hit their home. I want you to assist me in transfering this funds out of
my bank. I have everything planned out so that we shall come out
successful. There is no risk involved at all in this matter.
Should you be interested please send me your:
1. Full names
2. Private phone/fax
3. Current residential address
All I need from you is your readiness and trustworthiness. I would give
you more information on how we would handle this venture.
Kind Regards,
David Sek-chi Kwok.
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Anti-fraud resources:
