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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:
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "BARRISTER IAM LAMI" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barryiamlami224@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 09:02:30 -0700
Subject: GOOD DAY PLEASE VERY URGENT
Attn,
Greetings, I am Iam Lami,I was instructed to contact you by the Director of British Petroleum (BP) about the Late David Sootaga (Engineer) with Petrobrass Oil & Gas Industry the foreign contractor with the British Petroleum and Gas sector who died in 2009 earthquake while he was on holidays back home, Late David Sootaga completed his contract with the BP and was suppose to get paid in the early month of 2010 Once he returns to London, At this moment the Bank is waiting for an instruction from my client the General Managing Director BP to send details of Late David Sootaga's next of kin for the remittance of the Fund Every given information remains confidential says my client as you will be presented as the next of kin and that will earn you 30% of the contract value.
Regards
Barrister Iam Lami
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Anti-fraud resources:
