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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:
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Desmond Efi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <desmondefi@mynet.com>
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2014 23:56:56 +0400
Subject: Your commission payout
Hello,
My name is Desmond Efi, I work with Triump Petroleum Company of Madagascar.One of our license operators was a victim of
the last terrorist attack in Westgate Mall Kenya which rendered his crude oil sales license dormant and his due
commissions from previous sales unpaid.The amount due to be paid to this license operator is $16Million United States
Dollars.Since the license owner is a national of your country, Can we present you to Triump Petroleum as the nominated
license beneficiary to enable the unpaid commissions pay to you directly ? I have discussed this issue with his lawyer
who oversees all his dealings with Triump Petroleum before contacting you, He has shown great interest in working with
us to retrieve the commissions from Triump Petroleum.This proccess is legal and no risk involve as every legal
documents will be procured on your behalf as the nominated license beneficiary. The commission will be shared 60%-40%.
You will take 40% while I and the lawyer will take 60%.
I will give you more details as soon as I hear from you and confirm your understanding.
Thanks
Desmond
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Anti-fraud resources:
