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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 united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned 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: "Mr.Joe Alain.A" <officefile6000@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "Mr.Joe Alain.A" <mr.joealain@yahoo.fr>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 22:17:45 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Please can I have my trust and faith in you in this transaction please respond back!
Dear good friend,
My name is Mr.Joe Alain A, I worked at the Eco-bank Cotonou Benin republic of west Africa, auditing and accounting department I got your contact in my search for a honest person through one of my colleagues here in the Eco-bank who said that I can confidence in you I want you to help me clear this safe box that is already in overseas which I shipped through our Eco-bank accredited security company agent but the contents of the box is $12.8 Million united state dollars all in $100.00 bills, belonging to our Bank late customer who died earlier this year in a tanker fire clash along with his wife and four children they were involved in Benin petrol tanker explosion incident as people were siphoning petrol the explosion result lost of life killing at least 54 people and many injured including my client and his entire family please get back to me for the full details regarding this transaction my best regards,
Mr.Joe Alain A.
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Anti-fraud resources:
