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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)
- "% commission" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Amer Aidi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <amatinvestmentco@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2017 09:35:10 -0800
Subject: PROJECT FINANCING
Dear friend,
Our company is offering to Finance your projects at any volume, we grant Flexible Financial packages for varieties of projects with minimal documentations required. We are ready to make funds available in financing project value of 1 Million to 500 Million USD. Regards to nature of the business proposal.
Now, the funding would be provided as a soft loan at 3% Interest Rate for a duration of 10 Years. We will appreciate if you will provide the feasibility study of your project plan for our experts to review.
We also pay 1% commission to brokers, who introduces project owners for finance or other opportunities.
Please get back to me if you are interested for more details.
Sincerely.
Amer Aidi
Investment Executive Director
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Anti-fraud resources:
