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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:
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: FRED JOHNSON <msjk12@live.fr>
Reply-To: wxfred1@voila.fr
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:33:17 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: GOOD DAY,
GOOD DAY,
Sorry if I disturb your privacy! I am contacting you to propose a business deal which I presume will be of benefit to both of us.
I work as the Manager NON RESIDENT ACCOUNT DEPT, Standard Chartered Bank Cote D'Ivoire.
There is a dormant account containing a huge amout which I discovered that the owner of this account has died without leaving any traceable beneficiary.
The Country of origin of the depositor is simillar to yours hence the reason why I have contacted . If you are interested to work with me for us to claim this money for our benefit rather than letting it be converted into the bank's treasury, let me know so that we can discuss more and possiblly work together for our own benefit.
I look forward to hearing from you
FRED JOHNSON
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Anti-fraud resources:
