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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "your country for safe keeping" (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)
- "economic financial crime commission" (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: "Yakubu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <yakubu_andrew@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 7 May 2017 14:56:30 -0700
Subject: I thank you for your time
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am Andrew Yakubu, the ex. Group Managing Director of NNPC. I
have $255.5m for Investment in your country.Recently as you may have read or heard in the news media, the Economic Financial crime Commission (EFFC) who are the agents of the government sezied the sum of USD9.8 mILLION from my Kaduna home and i have been subjected to some investigations which have necessited my decision to move the remaining funds that is in the custody of a reputable security company to your Country for safe keeping and for investment purposes. Please do Contact me if you are interested but do not disclose to a third party without my permission.
I shall be updating you with further clarifications once i get your positive nod.
I thank you for your time.
Regards,
ENGR.ANDREW YAKUBU
EX. GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR
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Anti-fraud resources:
