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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:
- "% commission" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Lee Cho" <leecho@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: leecho006@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2013 16:38:03 -0800 (PST)
Subject:
Good Morning!
Bintulu Edible Oils Sdn Bhd in MALAYSIA, wish to establish a firm
relationship with you to serve as our collection agent on all payments due
to us from existing purchasers of our product located in Canada and US.
The collection procedure will always be where any one of our established
clients in the areas above mentioned,they would transmit funds to you and
once bank credibility is satisfied these same funds received will be
transferred to Bintulu Edible Oils Sdn Bhd in MALAYSIA at a bank provided
by us as the receiving agent.
We further establish that you will receive 10% commission calculated on
each payment you received.
Please get back to me for more details if are interested in this proposal.
Mr Lee Cho
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Anti-fraud resources:
