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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:
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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: NNPC <aadam@lccare.org.au>
Reply-To: <nnpcinfom@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2013 10:37:49 +0100
Subject: PARTNERSHIP ON INVESTMENT PLAN
Good day!
I am the Chief Audit/Account Executive officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) attached to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Apex bank.
I write to inquire your interest in a business transaction which involves US$45M secured in our (NNPC) escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The fund was an over-invoiced contract award amount which was abandoned and undisclosed over the years due to the fact that the account was sealed/blocked with high security device Microchips by the predecessors (to prevent any intruder's accessibility) who were chased out of offices by this present Civilian Administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I seek your interest for the purpose of establishing a joint venture on Real Estate and Tourist Centre oversea with the fund upon claimed. I shall unfold details on how we shall go about the claim upon your reply.
Best regards,
Musa Adebayo (Chief Audit/Account).
+2348186815357
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Anti-fraud resources:
