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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:
- "trunk box" (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 american 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Nina Garcia <nena_donald05@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: ninagarcia127@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:49:36 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Hello
Hello,
I am Mrs Nina Garcia, widow to the late former minister of
finance of Philippine. I inherited a total sum of $21.5 Million
American dollars from my late husband, the money was concealed in a
metallic trunk box and was deposited with a storage and finance company
in Abroad, that was because I needed a maximum security/safety of my
consignment and no body nor government organization can trace the where
about of the money until I am ready and prepare to claim it. but the
Storage company didn't know the real content of the box, because it was
deposited as a family valuables.
My main purpose of sending you
this mail is because of the way I found you and perhaps trustworthy to
give you this priority of shipping the box of money to any address that
you think is very secure and save in your country for onward lodgement
your account for the purpose
of future investment with your percentage of which we shall chat on
soon.
I will send you the Authorization Certificate to call them
in my next mail which is the Certificate of deposit that they gave me on
the very day when the box of money was deposited under their company. I
give thanks immensely for your co-operation as I look forward to hear
from you soon for quick conclusion of this transaction.
Best regards,
Mrs.Nina Garcia
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