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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:
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: " Mike Ajasi " <ajitk@zenith-india.com>
Reply-To: ajasimike@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2015 02:05:09 -0800
Subject: About Your Payment.
Att beneficiary
I AM MIKE AJASI ,A COMPUTER SCIENTIST WITH CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA.I AM 26YEARS OLD JUST STARTED WORK WITH C.B.N. I CAME ACROSS YOUR FILE WHICH IS MARKED X AND YOUR RELEASE DISK PAINTED RED. I TOOK TIME TO STUDY IT AND FOUND OUT THAT YOU HAVE PAID VIRTUALLY ALL FEES
AND CERTIFICATES BUT THE FUND HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED TO YOU.
THE MOST ANNOYING THING IS THAT THEY CAN NOT TELL YOU THE TRUTH THAT ON NO ACCOUNT WILL THEY EVER RELEASE THIS FUND TO YOU INSTEAD THEY LET YOU SPEND MONEY UNNECESSARILY. I DO NOT INTEND TO WORK HERE ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE,I CAN RELEASE THIS FUND TO YOU IF YOU
CAN CERTIFY ME OF MY SECURITY. AND HOW I CAN RUN AWAY FROM NIGERIA IF I DO THIS BECAUSE IF I DON'T I WILL BE KILLED.MY LIFE WILL BE AT DANGER.
PLEASE THIS IS LIKE A MAFIA SETTING IN NIGERIA.YOU MAY NOT UNDERSTAND IT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT A NIGERIAN. THE ONLY THING I WILL NEED TO RELEASE THIS FUND IS A SPECIAL HARD DISK WE CALL IT HB2 PROXY SOFTWARE HARD DISK. I WILL BUY 2 OF IT RECOPY YOUR INFORMATION'S DESTROY THE PREVIOUS PUNCH THE COMPUTER TO REFLECT IN YOUR BANK WITHIN 24 BANKING HOURS.
I WILL CLEAN UP THE TRACERS AND DESTROY YOUR FILE AFTER WHICH I WILL RUN AWAY FROM NIGERIA TO MEET WITH YOU. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED DO GET IN-TOUCH WITH ME IMMEDIATLY. YOU SHOULD SEND TO ME YOUR CONVENIENT TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS FOR EASY COMMUNICATIONS AND ALSO RECONFIRM THE CONTRACT PARTICULARS AND BANK INFORMATION SO THAT THERE WON'T BE ANY MISTAKE IN THE TRANSFER.
REGARDS,
MR. MIKE AJASI
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