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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)
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "dranthonywood@w.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Anthony Wood" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dranthonywood@w.cn>
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:46:29 +0530
Subject: From Common Wealth of Nation
Foreign & Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street,
London.
SW1A 2AH
+448712370095
http://www.fco.gov.uk
Dear sir/madam
The Common Wealth Administration resolved to select randomly some emails
of corporate and individual emails for an award in lieu of alleviating
Poverty and enhancing greater productivity and creativity among the member
States & Some individuals around the Global Village.
Your email is among the electronically selected email entitled for benefit
Monetarily within this Second quarter of the year.
You are required to submit your bio data as soon as possible.
Email:dranthonywood@w.cn
The amount awarded is the sum of ($1,000,000.00) One Million United States Dollars.
Regards,
Dr. Anthony Wood
For Common Wealth of Nation
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Anti-fraud resources:
