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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)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million 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)
- "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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Ahmed Ndeye <ahmedndeye@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Ahmed Ndeye <ndeyeahmed@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:59:13 -0700
Subject: I wait for you update
Dear Friend
I
am Mr.Ahmed Ndeye a banker, i know that this mail will come to you as a
surprise as we have never met before, but need not to worry as I am
contacting you independently of my investigation and no one is informed
of this communication. I need your urgent Cooperation in transferring
the sum of $11.3 Million dollars immediately to your private account.The
money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for years now without
anybody coming for the claim of it.
The
fund belong to our deceased Customer Mrs.Joy Lake who perished along
with her family since January 31 2000. The Banking laws here does not
allow such money to stay more than 15 years,that is the reason why i
need your Cooperation in transferring the money to your bank account so
that we can use it to secure the future of our both families because i
don't want the money to be recalled to the bank treasury as unclaimed
fund.
By indicating your
interest I will send you the full details on how the business will be
executed. Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you
are not interested.
Best Regards,
Ahmed Ndeye.
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Anti-fraud resources:
