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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 states 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Benjamin Neals" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <beanjaminneals1@w.cn>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:27:10 -0500
Subject: MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP/PLEASE GET BACK TO ME
Sir,
My name is Mr.Benjamin Neals, the Foreign Remittance Officer,in one of the leading Banks Thailand. I have contacted you to work with in order receive a total sum of USD$15,000.000(Fifteen Million United States Dollars) from the Late Mr.Caripides William who was a contract employer here in Thailand, who operated an account with my Bank who perished in a plane crash [Swissair Flight 111] with his wife and their only son and the whole passengers aboard on September 7th 1998. See link below for more details..
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9809/swissair.victims.list/index.html
You are required to reconfirm your contact address and any other phone contact for easy communication.
I shall give you details and procedure of this transaction when you respond with all your contact details.
The funds shall be paid into your account through our online banking facility. I shall come to your country to meet with you when this deal is concluded. Fill your information below:
NAME: .............................
MAILING ADDRESS:...................
AGE: ..............................
STATUS:............................
STATE/COUNTRY:.....................
TEL/FAX NUMBERS:...................
CELL PHONE:........................
COMPANY NAME: .....................
OCCUPATION: .......................
I await your response.
Thanks
Mr.Benjamin Neals
+66 853290962
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Anti-fraud resources:
