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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr.Aka Kone <akakone28882@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2014 12:29:26 +0000
Subject: Dear Friend.
Dear Friend.
My Name is Aka kone.I am an investment consultant working with one of the prime bank here in Cote d' Ivoire as an Auditor .I will be happy to work this deal out with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and if you are capable to keep TOP SECRET.I need strong Assurance that you will never let me down,
if I transfer this money to your account.
During one of our periodic auditing I discovered a dormant accounts with holding balance of $12.5 Million USD this account has not been operated for the past years.The owner of this dormant account is a foreigner by name "Ed Swingle" who died on 4th Jan 2002. in a plane crash in Birmingham.you can view this CNN or BBC website for his true details.
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/04/england.plane/
As at this moment,I am constrained to issue more details about this business until your response is received.
1) Your Age......................
2) Your profession.....................
3) Your Position in office.............
4) home address............
5) Occupation:..............
Thank you for your time and attention.
Warmest regards,
Aka Kone.
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Anti-fraud resources:
