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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:
- "transferred into your bank account" (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)
- "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.
Fraud email example:
From: Stephen Doma <stephendoma2@att.net>
Reply-To: stephendoma@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:10:36 -0800 (PST)
Subject: VERY CONFIDENTIAL
Dear One,
I am contacting you for the purpose of transferring funds into your bank account, I am Chief.Stephen Doma ,a top official with the (Nigerian Debt management Office)NDMO. I discovered (US$12MILLION) (Twelve Million United States Dollars) Payment file Voucher of a deceased foreign contractor who did some road contracts in Nigeria and I have traced the contractor and I found out that the contractor has died and the fund is deposited in one of the government approved bank in Nigeria.
Nobody,except me is aware of this fund and now i want to transfer the fund to another bank account because nobody is coming to claim the funds.
I want you as a foreigner to get me bank account to enable me transfer the funds to your bank account and i will invest the funds in your country confidentially. You will take 30% of the funds if you are willing to assist me.
I will come to your country to meet you if the funds are transferred into your bank account and know that I will transfer the fund as soon as you send me the bank account details.
Thanks for your assistance and I am anxiously waiting your reply.
Regards,
Chief.Stephen Doma
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Anti-fraud resources:
