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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)
- "million united state 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)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr. Santa Milla <scanner@jwedens.com>
Reply-To: sant.milla@yandex.com
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 19:09:47 +0700 (WIB)
Subject: For your clarificatio
Dear Friend,
I seek your consent in this matter.
My names is Mr. Santa Milla, Former credit manager of SNS Bank (www.snsbank.nl) Netherlands Branch, presently am working with Capital One Bank here in United Kingdom.
I have a proposal to discuss with you about a certain bonded account in our Bank account that contains One Hundred million United State Dollars. It will be beneficial to all parties concerned in transferring the money in your favour and investing of the money in your country as the owner of the account is late and he did not write any WILL to the account,Since he did not have a will and every effort to contact his relative proved abortive I will be glad if you use this opportunity to stand as his next of kin so that we will pull out the money and transfer it to your designated bank account.
I am contacting you on this because you share the same Family name with the Bonded Account.
Please get back to me asap with your full details
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Anti-fraud resources:
