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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- +22561268796 (Cote d'Ivoire, probably a prepaid mobile phone)
Fraud email example:
From: Reed Huish <reedhuish123@yahoo.fr>
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 12:31:10 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL ASSISTANCE
Dear respectful one.
My name is Reed Huish i am 19 years old from Liberia. Please go through below my mail to see if you can assist for our mutual benefit. My late father was a cocoa and gold business man.
He died in a motor accident with my mother one week after his trip to Abidjan Cote d' Ivoire to negotiate on a cocoa business he wanted to invest in. My mother died instantly and my father followed up five days after in the hospital. May there soul rest in perfect peace.
Before the death of my father, he disclosed to me about sum of ($7..5, 000,000US) he deposited in a bank in Cote d' Ivoire for the investment with my name as next of kin.
I am a novice in terms of business and can not be able to handle investment of the money by my self and do not want to involve my relatives as instructed by my late father.
I solicit for your assistance to guard me invest the money as partners under your care.
If we happen to do this together, before any thing is done with the money,
I will give you 10% of the total money as compensation for your assistance.
I look forward to hearing from you for more details if you are willing andable to handle this.
Best regards.
Reed Huish
cll me +225 61 26 87 96
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Anti-fraud resources:
