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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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: "SAMUEL ELIJAH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <samuelelijah101@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:19:13 -0400
Subject: I NEED YOUR ATTN. URGENTLY
Your Kind Attention,
I am Mr. Samuel Elijah a banker, and an account officer to late Andreas Schranner; a German contractor and property magnate who came to our country with Julius Berger construction company in 1997. He was a Contractor/Supplier with the government of Nigeria prior to his demise in the ill fated Concord AF4590 that crashed in the year 2000 alongside his entire family.
I am making arrangement to present you as the next of kin so that my bank can transfer the money he left with us in a fixed deposit valued US$75,000,000.00 (SEVENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLAR) to your country.
I will tender my resignation letter and board the next available plane to meet with you as soon as the transfer is done. I hope I can trust your total discretion on this.
Mr. Samuel Elijah
Keystone Bank Ltd
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Anti-fraud resources:
