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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:
- "any lucrative business in your country" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Christ Beng" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <christ.beng@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2017 05:34:30 +0100
Subject: Reply
Sir
My name is Christ Beng. Having gone through your profile, it has afforded this great opportunity to contact you in request for your professional assistance. I want to invest in Real Estate Business or any lucrative business in your Country and it will be a great pleasure to have you manage the fund for me and my younger brother. The fund is already with HSBC Bank London and attached in this email is proof of fund and copy of the cheque that was formally issued to us by HSBC as wanted to an investor whom we later found to be un-trust worthy.
Should you be interested to work with us in this project, kindly find the attached cheque/proof of fund and feel free to confirm it from the bank or betters till we can send you the contact information of the account officer at HSBC Bank London and get back to enable me give you more details so we move forward.
Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks
Christ Beng
00 77 254 78001
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Anti-fraud resources:
