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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "David James" <d.j25@att.net>
Reply-To: <dj.messages@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:55:08 -0000
Subject: Can You Be Part Of This Investment Opportunity?
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is barrister David James; I am an attorney to Mr. Fabiano who is an Italian business man resident in Rome Italy. Mr. Fabiano owned two major buildings in the centre of Rome. He rented these two buildings to the Italian government and has been collecting rent for the past 20 years.
In 2008 Mr. Fabiano needed funds for an overseas business transaction; he therefore applied for a loan by giving as collateral/guarantee the two buildings (which were worth about euro 200 million). He was granted a loan of euro 120m and he indicated a Swiss company which he owned as beneficiary of the transfer of the funds obtained as a loan.
Mr. Fabiano had also made an agreement that the loan would be re-paid in 25 years with the money generated from the buildings as rental money. Before the final transfer of the Loan was made, the gentleman Mr. Fabiano died in a car accident in Rome.
The son of his ex wife (his step son) inherited the buildings and the company that the gentleman owned in Switzerland. The step son did not know about the loaned/transfer, therefore who ever will buy the company in Switzerland will automatically be able to receive in a legal and legitimate way the approved loan without having to re-pay it back.
The 3 officers in Rome in charge of the remittance want a partner/investor willing and able to buy the Swiss company and eventually participate in the sharing of the funds, once they are transferred to the company’s account. If the investor agrees, then there will be someone that has as a role to convince the present owner of the company to sell it to us (to the investor/partner). The potential investor/partner is free to go to Switzerland and negotiate to eventually buy directly the company.
Let me know if you may require any further details about this proposal through the above email address.
Best Regards,
David James
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