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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:
- "my names are " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "emmanuelarmah@qq.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: "Hon, Emmanuel Armah." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hon.amman1@qq.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 18:25:15 -0700
Subject: Very Confidential
Attn:Dear,
My names are Hon, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah current Minister of Energy
and Petroleum (GNPC&E) Ghana National Petroleum Cooperation & Energy.
Address: Petroleum House Private Mail Bag Tema Ghana.
Mr dear. Let me go straight to the point, with my position I have an
opportunity to put together the sum of money (31m usd) which came
through Over Invoices which I don't want to return back to GNPC&E
Account.
I will like if we can enter into confidential and binding business
agreement with you or your company to move the funds out of Ghana for
investments.
Sir please on no account should any person or organization will know
about this because of my position.
Kindly go through my proposal and get back to me for more information.
Contact Email: emmanuelarmah@qq.com
Regards.
Hon, Emmanuel Armah.
GNPC&E.
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Anti-fraud resources:
