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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:
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Renaissance Gold Investment Bank Ghana <nadiaus16@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Renaissance Gold Investment Bank Ghana <rgibg_org@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 16:24:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Notice to all our Beneficiaries
SUBJECT: RE: NOTIFICATION ON YOUR IMPENDING TRANSFER
Sir/Ma,
We write to remind you based on recent directives and authorization from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to us the assigned paying bank to effect your transfer in this second quarter batch of the fiscal year 2011 following the foreign exchange allocation approval, which already has been granted. Therefore it call on you to respond to this important transfer correspondent to enable us commence immediate transfer release with you through our online banking section.
Failure on your part will warrant this institution to return the fund to the IMF account with us as unclaimed fund. We wish that you will make good use of this opportunity offer to you by the IMF through us to actualization the receipt of your outstanding payment.
Get back to us immediately for further directives
Thanks in anticipation for your cooperation,
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Joyce Koffi
For Customers Care
Renaissance Gold Investment Bank Ghana
Corporate Headquarters:
Cedi House Castle Road Ridge
PO Box CT 2321 Cantonments Accra Ghana
Phone:233285072487
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Anti-fraud resources:
