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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:
- "the consignment" (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: Denis W Fringpong <deniswfringpong@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: Denis W Fringpong <fimpongdenisk@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:54:54 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: GOLD DUST FOR SALE
Dear sir,
I am Mr. DENIS W. FRINGPONG an agent to many miners here in Ghana and also a marketer,sales and manufacturers representative.
Since last month my miners have been at my neck to source for geniue buyers that will come to Ghana and buy some quantities of gold dust that would be transformed to DUR-BARS once the buyer agreed on the sales conditions.
Note please, I made mention of geniue buyer because of the ugly experience two of my miners hard in the hands of two foreign buyers that insisted they will pay when the product gets to the port of their destination and they disappeared during the process of clearing the consignments at the airports. Now that fraudulent act of those buyers caused my miners to be indebted to hundreds of thousands of dollars to the ppmc.
My miners are willing to sale bellow UK regulated price but it must be based on cash payment after confirmation at one of the international recognized refinery here in Ghana.
The buyer will take care of shipment charges and we will be pleased to enter into sales,purchasing agreement with any buyer.
Thanks for the anticipated patronage.
Regards,
DENIS W. FRINGPONG.
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Anti-fraud resources:
