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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "account in your country or any safer place" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrs.gracekade@yahoo.fr (Yahoo, France; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Grace Kader" <mrs.grace_kader@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: mrs.gracekade@yahoo.fr
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 17:40:11 +0800 (CST)
Subject: FROM Mrs.Grace Kader
Attn: My Dear friend ,
Greetings
and may God be with you, please I have a problem and needs your help,
I have decided that it good a thing to write you for help
I am Mrs. Grace Kader from Ivory Coast. being that I lost my husband a couple of months ago without child,my age 38 yrs.
My husband was a
serving director of the Cocoa exporting board until his death.He was
assassinated last january by the rebels following the political
uprising in the country.
Before his
death he had a foreign deposit outside Côte d´Ivoire up to the tune of
$10.5m which he told the security company that the money was for the
importation of cocoa processing machine. I want you to do me a favour
to receive this funds to a safe account in your country or any safer
place as the beneficiary
I have plans
to do investment in your country, like real estate and industrial
production. This is my reason for writing to you. Please if you are
willing to assist me , indicate your interest in replying soonest with
this email : mrs.gracekade@yahoo.fr )
Thanks and best regards.
Mrs. Grace Kader.
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Anti-fraud resources:
