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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- 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.
- lornavan31@excite.co.jp (Excite, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Lorna V." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lornavan31@excite.co.jp>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:58:00 -0000
Subject: Re: New partnership
Dear Friend,
My name is LORNA L. VARONA. I am a Filipino by Nationality but base and work in uae (United Arab Emirates) with Noor Islamic Bank, as a branch manager in Dubai.
I discovered that one of our customers by name Mr. Pascal Koupaki from Africa who was cought with a very big amount of coca in and sentenced to death early this year left a large amount of money in his account...$8,562,200 (Eight million, five hundred and sixty two thousand,two hundred usd) without any beneficiary.With my power as the manager i was able to transfer this fund to an international bank in Malaysia by name CHASE BANK (CCB) without a beneficiary because of my position and the nature of the country i am living in.
I am writing you now because the bank contacted me and asked me to present a beneficiary so as to transfer the money into the person's account immediately before they finally close for the year.
If you can help me to transfer this money into your company's or personal account am going to give you 40% percent of the total money and take only 60% and if you
wouldn't mind i may still want to invest my share in your company's business.
If the conditions are okay by you and you wish to assist me on this respond....
Best Regards
LORNA L. VARONA
PH +971556726899
Pls for security reason i want us to talk on email.
E-mail: lornavan31@excite.co.jp
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Anti-fraud resources:
