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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: kofi darkwa <dr.d00032@msn.com>
Reply-To: <kofi_darkwa@ymail.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 04:09:12 +0000
Subject: From Mr Kofi Darkwa
From Mr Kofi Darkwa
My name is Mr Kofi Darkwa, I am the branch manager of the
United Bank for Africa Ghana Kumasi branch. I am contacting you because I need
your urgent assistance to transfer ring the sum of ($ 1.500.000.00) to your
bank account within th (3) banking days.
Upon the receipt of your reply, I will give you the full
details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have
50% of the above mentioned sum as your own share while 50% will be for me, This
is my private email contact on expecting your urgent response.
This is very simple and there is no single risk that will be
involved.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr Kofi Darkwa
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Anti-fraud resources:
