419 scam: "Williams"<jwill@gmail.com> Hello Friend!

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jameswilliams12121@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 09:12:22 +0100
Subject: Hello Friend!

Hello

I Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, current Chairman of ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME

COMMISSION (EFCC).

As you may know, ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION

(EFCC) is charged with the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the nation's financial infrastructure and payment systems. As a part of this mission, ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) constantly implements and evaluates prevention and response measures to guard against electronic crimes as well as other computer related fraud. ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) derives its authority to investigate specified criminal violations from Title 18 of the Nigeria Code, Section 3056. During the course of investigation and apprehension of a internationally renowned criminal, your name was found among a list of names on a hard disk belonging to the aforementioned criminal. If you have been a victim of fraud, kindly reply to this email with the following

information:

1). Your full name.

2). Email Address.

3). Personal Mobile Number.

4) Contact Address.

5) Your Form of Identity.

Best Regards,

Office Of ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC).

This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam