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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "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: "Rev. Bill O. ATU" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rev.boa@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2016 07:20:05 -0700
Subject: USE THE FUNDS FOR CHARITY WORKS.
Dear Friend,
I am Rev. Bill O. ATU, the ACCT. GEN. / AUD. GEN. INT'L REM. DIR. of United Bank For Africa UBA. A late Philanthropist and a big customer of our bank who died four (4) years ago left the sum of US$23,500,000.00 [ TWENTY THREE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS] in his fixed deposit account of which am his account officer. He died along side with his next of kin.
Now the time fixed deposit have expired and the management of our bank is sending me notice to contact the next of kin to claim the funds or the account will be confiscated within the next two weeks as non fiduciary floating funds without beneficiary. By the virtue of my spiritual occupation am unable to let the funds be confiscated by the wicked government functionaries so I prayed and had it in a revelation that I should give the funds out to someone a foreigner who will use it for charity works. This is why I contacted you to make you the beneficiary of these funds so that you can use it for charity works.
If you agree to use this funds for charity works then I will make you the rightful beneficiary of the funds so the bank can transfer the funds into your bank account. Please I need you to send me the following:
Your Name..........................................................................
Your Address ......................................................................
Contact Phone number........................................................
Occupation/Profession.......................................................
Country of origin/Ethnicity..................................................
Country of residence...........................................................
Age......................................................................................
Sex.......................................................................................
This will enable me to procure the LETTER OF FUNDS TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION from the Ministry of Justice in your name.
Yours Faithfully
Rev. Bill O. ATU
ACCT. GEN. / AUD. GEN. INT'L REM. DIR.
UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA UBA.
COTONOU-REPUBLIQUE DU BENIN.
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Anti-fraud resources:
