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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ray Ukah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rayukah@rambler.ru>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:56:38 -0700
Subject: PROPOSITION
Attention:Sir/Madam
Please handle this proposal personally
I wish to ask for your consent for a partnership project that I would want both of us to execute mutually which is beneficial to both of us,I am Mr. Ray Ukah,I am a banker by profession.During the 2010 auditing of our bank, I discovered an account that had been dormant for over 10 years.The account was worth $17.5 Million (Seventeen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).The account could not be traced to anybody.Therefore the deal is not risky.
Due to my position in the bank, I cannot handle this deal personally. Now I want to transfer this money to your
account. It is a deal between us. I need your honest collaboration to transfer this money out from the country. I intend to invest part of my share in your company/country.
Without wasting time, please provide answers to the following questions so that we can start the deal immediately.
(1) What is your full names and your legal contact address?
(2) What type of business you are into / occupation?
(3) Can you handle or manage this volume of money when transferred to your account?
(4) How old are you? are you married or single?
(5) What is your phone number?
Your answers to the above questions will determine the next line of action get back to me with the answers to the questions on this my private E-mail: so that we will proceed. Please answer all the questions.
I am waiting for your immediate reply.
Yours Faithfully
Mr Ray Uka
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Anti-fraud resources:
