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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:
- "a security company " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "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)
- "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)
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- "million united state dollars" (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)
- "million dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "a diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Abdul Karim <karimabdul084@msn.com>
Reply-To: <abdulkarimson@ymail.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 15:13:16 +0000
Subject: We need your assistant
Attn: Sir,
My name is Abdul Karim and i am from Tripoli Libya.I am writing for you because of the condition that i am in it right now and i really need Ur assistance.Well i was a branch manager of Libyan Arab Foreign Bank (LAFB) in Tripoli.Before the fight broke out in my country our deceased president Muammar Gaddafi deposited the sum of 120 million United States dollars in our bank but two weeks after the fight broke out he transferred 80 million dollars to a bank in Turkey and six weeks later he gave me instruction to move the remaining money to Ghana through a diplomat and honestly the forty million dollars was moved to a security company in Ghana and the money is still with the security company and deposited in my own name.
Eight weeks before the died of Gaddafi sent his loyalist to attack me because he wanted me to help him to move 23 million United State dollars to Pakistan through the diplomat again but i refused because the rebels that were fighting Gaddafi warned me to stay away from him so he Gaddafi sent his loyalist to attack me and my family members but they came and could not find me but they ended up in burning down my properties, also raped my house keeper and killed my security man but i managed to scape with my wife and my son to Ghana where we are residing in a local hotel called faco hotel with a different identity.
Please dear i want you to help me so that we can recover the money from the security company in Ghana by moving it to your country and also help me to get a visa to your country, i will give you 40 percent of the money which is sixteen Million United States dollars and i will take the remaining twenty four million united States dollars.I have all the legal document of this money and everything is my name because that was the instruction Gaddafi gave to me,to be honest with you the security company and the diplomat that moved the consignment to Ghana does not know that the box contained millions of Dollars.
We are waiting your purchase interest and quick responses.
Thanks,
Abdul Karim.
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