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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Abraham Nwankwo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <abraham090@outlook.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2016 20:59:02 +0100
Subject: Regards
Dear Friend.,
This message might meet you in utmost surprise. However, it's just my
urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this
transaction.
I am an accountant by profession from Nigeria in West Africa
and currently holding the post of the board chairman 'CONTRACTS
TENDERS BOARD' in our company.
I have the mandate of transferring the left over funds (US$40
million ) of cumulative over-invoiced contracts executed by my company,
which is already in a coded account here in Nigeria.
Are you prepared to receive this money in your account and get 30% of
the total funds on transfer?/ if yes, please get back to me with your
acceptance letter/details.
Full details of transaction will be made known to you at once.
Yours sincerely,
Abraham Nwankwo
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Anti-fraud resources:
