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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:
- "million us 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)
- "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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "LAURENT SAUVAGE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <laursauvmailbox1@r7.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 02:45:06 -0400
Subject: Re; HELLO
Hello,
I am Laur H. Sauvage, Lawyer & Senior International Auditor (Washington DC USA). World Bank in conjunction with the NNPC has appointed me to audit the financial books and records of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from 2002 to 2012. This is because there have been so many unclaimed and unpaid contract funds lying fallow and not paid for years,the World Bank together with the Federal Government of Nigeria has ordered the immediate audit review of all financial books and records of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC including contract papers between 2002 – 2012 to ascertain reason or reasons why these numerous multimillion dollars contract funds are not paid. In the course of my audit and accounting investigation at the Petroleum Corporation as World Bank Appointed Independent Auditor, one of the unclaimed numerous contract funds amounting to multimillion US Dollars caught my attention which has been approved for payment release.
I shall give you further details about this once I received your response confirming receipt of this email and agreeing to partner with me to receive the unpaid fund.
I wait for your reply.
Regards,
Laur H. Sauvage
Lawyer & Senior International Auditor
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Anti-fraud resources:
