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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Victor Obi" <brothers167@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: timmccarronprivate20@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:58:19 +0100
Subject: RE: REPLY.
Hello,
Please I greet you in the name of God Almighty. I have come to you for
special assistance that would also be of great value to you as well.
My name is Dr. Victor Obi and I represent the former Governor of Delta
State the Oil rich state in the Federal Republic Of Nigeria in West
Africa. His political enemies in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
have decided to bring him down financially and tarnish his reputation
in the country and the international community.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ibori)
He has empowered me to look for a trust worthy person that will manage
his wealth until his jail terms is completed so that he will come and
take over from where you stopped. I have seen your data and I believe
you have what it takes to execute this transaction and you are the
first person I am contacting for this project. Please note that this
must be highly confidential and the transaction is 100% legal and risk
free. I shall give you more details if you are interested. Thank you
for your cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Victor Obi.
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Anti-fraud resources:
