419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "MRS.HELENA BROWAN" <gino.covi@alice.it>
Reply-To: usa.embassy_benin@xd.ae
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 10:52:20 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?GREETING_FROM_HOMELAND_S?=
=?UTF-8?Q?ECURITY_OF_USA_EMBASSY=E2=80=8F=E2=80=8F=E2=80=8F?=

MG Timothy J. Lowenberg,Adjutant General and Director State Military
Department Washington Military Dept., Bldg1 Camp Murry ,Wash 98430-5000 USA
U.S.A.Embassy Service Department.

Attention. To The Recipient

Sir/Madam .

We the monetary affairs of Usa embassy of rep Benin discovered that you have
not been paid for your past won, inheritance funds from the west African
corrupted bank and individuals: Or have you received your fund? The Usa
embassy
and i.m.f decided to cash the monies and install into an ATM card to use that
means of payment to refunds all the American citizens who had lost hard
earned their money to the African and west African corrupted banks, lawyers
/attorneys and diplomats.
So kindly reconfirm your information to expedite on delivering the Platinum
Visa-card Atm card to you. Thus: Your full namesâ€¦ Your Home address.. Your
cell-
Telephone number. Forwards the information to the us embassy benin contact
email at : usa.embassy_benin@xd.ae

Yours In Service,
Mrs.Helena Browan.
Assistant Secretary of U.S Embassy
in Benin State for African Affairs

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam