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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:
- "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 of america" (this email uses bad English)
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "my direct line" (a "direct line" in a scam usually means an untraceable mobile phone number used by a scammer in an internet cafe, a redirection service number that forwards to a mobile or a free voicemailbox in a different country.)
- "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: Barrister James Barron <test@mfmail.in>
Reply-To: Barrister James Barron <m.bush@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:01:25 +0530 (IST)
Subject: RE: VERY URGENT RESPONSE!!!!
Greeting from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
THIS MAIL IS ONLY FOR THE OWNER OF THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS
We received an email from one Mr. Liu Kong Nam who presented a bank name and a telephone number with a resident address, saying that you gave him the power of attorney to make your claims sum of $1.5Million Dollars in ATM Card that you are not able to complete the deal.
Please try and get back to us immediately before we instruct him to pay the required charges and have the fund transferred to him. He agreed to pay the remaining fee today we are very happy but we want to confirm from you before we proceed because you are delaying and you are joking with the deal but I don’t want you to lose this fund I invested on this deal and I will forward his name and the address to the (FBI) Office in United State Of America as soon as I hear from you and we will go to court to make the change of ownership.
Get back asp so that we can finish this deal, I have already forwarded the power of attorney to Supo Kennedy the custom Officer in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NEW YORK CITY (USA).
Below is the information’s he sent to us.
Name: Mr. Liu Kong Nam
Address: Kemuning Ray Street NO.8
Tomang. Jakarta.Indonesia.
Your urgent response will be highly appreciated or you make sure that you call the directors number immediately to avoid divert of your fund. Feel free to call me on my direct line +234-80-3936-9706 if you have any queries.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
Barrister James Barron.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission - EFCC
REPRESENTATIVE AT ATM PAYMENT CENTER.
LAGOS NIGERIA. CALL: +234-80-3936-9706.
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