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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "philhoward@e-mail.ua" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Phil Howard" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <philhoward@e-mail.ua>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:43:52 -0800
Subject: Mr.Phil Howard2
From the desk of: Mr. Howard Phil
Head of Remittance Department
Natwest Bank London
Ref: F/R/BnkA/ird/bnk/021
Date : 11/27/2012
Phone;+44 7700020921
Email;philhoward@e-mail.ua
Attn: Beneficiary,
We have received a payment credit instruction from the United Nations and World bank representative office in Switzerland to credit your account with your compensation funds allocated in your name to the tune of US$2.5 million (Two million Five Hundred united states dollars) from their reserve joint accounts of World Bank/United Nations with us here.
We are told that you are one of the listed citizen that fall into the victim of scam by Africans some time ago and have to accept this amount as your full compensation from the World Bank /United Nations as you have been approved to claim this if you can accept it under minding any amount you might spend with them.
However, you shall required to re-confirm the following details as specified below to effect the wire transfer afore mentioned above to your designated account details:
{1}. Your Full Name:
{2}. Your Home Address And City/Country:
{3}. Your Confidential Tel, Cell and Fax.:
{4). Your Bank name:
{5}. Your Bank Address.:
{6). Your A/c Numbers.:
(7). Your Swift Code:
{8}. Your Routing Numbers.:
Please do provide the above information accurately, because this office cannot afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds or liability of funds credited into a ghost account. Thanks for your co-operation while looking forward to serving you with the best of our service.
Thanks for your co-operation
Best Regards,
Mr.Phil Howard
Head of Remitance Department Natwest Bank London
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Anti-fraud resources:
