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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "abiodunjames@outlook.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "James Olotu" <jameolotu@live.com>
Reply-To: abiodunjames@outlook.com
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:48:48 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend
Dear friend
My name is James Olotu, I am the managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company. Niger Delta is the oil producing region of Nigeria and we have used our natural resources to secure so much wealth for ourselves. We get lots of money from crude oil deals in our region and because the government does not authorize illegal oil bunkery, we cannot take our cash to the bank of avoid government sizing the account.
I am contacting you because I understand you are a trusted business personality that has a good relationship with banks in your Country.
We have huge cash deposit in a private security vault which we intended to put in the bank but could not because we are foreigners. The problem now is that We cannot move the cash back to our Country either hence the immediate need for a trusted friend to assist us in getting the cash into the bank. My proposal is for you help us integrate/put the cash dollars into the bank as investment fund.
We have a percentage for your assistance and ready to discuss more detail you are interested.
Your immediate response will be appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
James Olotu
Email: abiodunjames@outlook.com
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