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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- dajmahmood@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Dajjal Mahmood" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dajmahmood@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 22:05:17 +0800
Subject: Urgent Attention
Dear Friend,
I am Dajjal Mahmood, commanding the 5th division of the NATO Air forces in Libya. At this moment I want you to hold this top secret while
helping me to secure the sum of Two hundred Million Libya Dina's which I recover when we invaded the strong house of Colonel Mum-mar Gaddafi.
I will be oblige to educate you more on this when i receive your reply to this email.
I used my contact to send the money through a Malaysia based financial security company (RHB Assurance) which is affiliated to RHB bank in Malaysia.
I am expecting to get the fund out immediately to a safe hand so as to commit it to investment channel since i am working under military directives
which do not allow me engage in transfer process properly. Kindly indicate your interest in securing this funds via my private email below, so that
more information can be relayed to you.
Best Regards,
Dajjal Mahmood
(dajmahmood@gmail.com)
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Anti-fraud resources:
