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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Rasmane Ouedraogo <rasmaneouedraogo_boa@rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: rasmane_ouedraogo@voila.fr
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 19:49:07 +0100
Subject: Your Urgent Responds Is Highly Needed
FROM THE DESK OF MR RASMANE OUEDRAOGO
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING SECTION OF
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA-FASO
WEST AFRICA
GOOD DAY,
I WISH TO KNOW IF WE CAN WORK TOGETHER BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO STAND AS THE BENEFICIARY TO A DECEASED CLIENT MR.ANDREAS RORHMANN SCHRANNER(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm ) WHO MADE SOME DEPOSIT SUM OF US$25.5M.TWENTY FIVE MILLION FIRVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITE STATES DOLLAR IN MY DEPARTMENT IN THE BANK OF AFRICA BURKINA-FASO, WEST AFRICA BEFORE HIS DEATH.
HE DIED ON THE 31IST JULY 2000 WITHOUT ANY REGISTERED NEXT OF KIN AND AS SUCH THE FUNDS NOW HAVE AN OPEN BENEFICIARY MANDATE. UPON YOUR REPLY I WILL GIVE YOU DETAILS ON HOW THE TRANSACTION WILL BE EXECUTED, AND I’AM ASSURING YOU THAT IT IS 100% RISK FREE HENCE YOU CO-OPERATE WITH ME.
BEST REGARDS.
MR RASMANE OUEDRAOGO
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Anti-fraud resources:
