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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (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: "Miss.Doris Nimdee" <suzzylove_2006@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: dorris.nimdee@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 16:33:08 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Top Secret.
Hi Dear!
Good day, Please permit me to introduce myself in brief. I am Miss Doris a staff to standard chartered bank GH; reason for writing you this letter is to solicit your assistance in a noble transfer project of $22Million USD that was deposited by a foreign customer whose sudden death resulting to blood related issues. However his files with us state no relatives/ or next of kin. The reason to my letter seeking your partnership to stand in as the next of kin to the diseased, whereby I shall programmed your information on the system as the next of kin also guiding you through the process of claiming the left over funds as being the sole beneficiary.
If this proposal interests you; please do not hesitate to write back with your contact information to proceed further also knowing that this transaction is 100% risk free, so far we keep the secret between us without letting out to third-party as it may jeopardize our image/ future career. Therefore almost secrecy is paramount. As I set this transaction to benefits us equally at the end of the deal as we both have path to play in this transaction to make it workout successfully for us.
P.S: be aware that my involvement in this transaction shall be invisible to protect against detect by other staffs in the bank.
Regards
Miss D. Nimdee
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Anti-fraud resources:
