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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: karem ahmed <karem_ahmed1@voila.fr>
Reply-To: mrkaremahmed@voila.fr
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:45:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: URGENT RESPOND.........
P {
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UL {
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OL {
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Greetings to you,
For your kind attention, I need your urgent assistance in transferring the
sum of $11.3million to your private account. This money has been dormant for
years in our Bank without claim. I want to release the money to you as the
beneficiary to our deceased customer(the account owner) who died along with her
family since 31 January 2000.
By indicating your interest I will send you the full details on how the
business will be executed.
Please respond urgently and delete if you are not interested.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Mr Karem
Ahmed
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Anti-fraud resources:
