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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr George Nnazi <adriano.dialessandro@sociale.it>
Reply-To: dir.ebenezer@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 2013 15:21:06 +0100
Subject: Acknowledgement
--
Attn:
We acknowledge a confirmation letter of compensation PAYMENT from the EFCC
Benin to pay you the sum of $2.5M signed by the Federal Government of Rep
Du Benin.
Kindly furnish us with the required details below to enable us further the
online swift transfer process in your favor within the next 24 hours.
Bank Name:________
Bank Address:______
Account Number________
Account Name___________
Swift Code______________
Your Country:____________
Tell Number:_____________
Your Passport Copy________
You are requested to pay the online wiring licence charge and do call me
on the phone .You have 24Hrs to receive your compensation payment from our
international Credit Department in Ttinidad & Tobago as it has been signed
by the Federal Government of Benin and please stop further communication
with so call banks or IMF/FBI because these Organization has been settled
by our Federal Government here in about 72hours ago to grant your
compensation payment without hitch.
Call me for urgent assistance.
MR GEORGE NNAZI
+22 96 85 232 13
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Anti-fraud resources:
