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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Zainab Farouk" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zainabfarouk1@mail.ru>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 04:42:27 -0500
Subject: Bussiness & Investment
I am Zainab,I represent the interest of my brother in-law who is a top Government official in Syria. As you may
know, there is crisis in Syria. Due to this,my brother in-law fell out with the ruling
Junta and is currently under house arrest,or i fear the worst because he has been incommunicado for the past 3
weeks. He did nothing wrong except that he publicly opposed the decision of the Government a year ago to use
weapons on our own people. He had planned ahead for the unexpected and asked me to help him find a reputable
foreigner who can help him accommodate and invest $100 Million US Dollars privately. Hence my reason for
contacting you.
We need your co-operation to accommodate and lodge the funds in the banking system in your country. We will
handle the logistics involved in the movement of the funds to you. Please note that the entire business will be
executed in a legal way. My brother in-law has promised to compensate you with 5% of the said sum. He would also like
for you to help invest the funds in a profitable business in your country. He has also instructed me that he wants
this to be done discretely and he would want to keep his identification confidential. I will be acting as his eyes
and ears during the course of this transaction.
If this proposal interests you, please kindly respond ASAP so we can go through the details together.
Regards,
Zainab
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Anti-fraud resources:
