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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:
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: Joshua Y <barr.j.yohana@gmail.com>
Reply-To: yohana.joshua@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 11:53:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Attn: From. Barrister joshua yohana.
Attn: From. Barrister joshua yohana.
With due respect I am barrister joshua yohana.resident attorney here in Burkina Faso to late Mr. Didier Zokoura from Abidjan who died along with his wife and only daughter on car accident in his country. Late Mr. Didier Zokoura is a Cocoa merchant before his death that is how he made his money.
Late Mr. Didier Zokoura have the sum of twenty million five hundred thousand united states dollars ($20.5M USD) with African development bank Burkina Faso, my personal reason of contacting you is that I want us to transfer this money into your account in your country as a deal.
This account has been dormant without nobody coming for the claim for that reason I want us to join hands together to transfer this money into your account as a deal to enable me reallocate to your country.
thanks in anticipation of your responds
Barristerjoshua yohana.
Chambers & Associate
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Anti-fraud resources:
