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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Frank Abonga" <frankabanga@gmail.com>
Reply-To: frankabonga@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2017 04:37:31 -0600
Subject: For your Kind Attention
Dear Sir/Madam.
Greetings to you. My name is Mr. Frank Abonga. I work in a bank in South
Africa. I will need your assistance in applying for the next of kin a Late
customer of mine, who died of a kidney failure after years of struggling
with the disease. He was a wealthy Business man who deposited a Huge
Amount of Funds in our bank before his death.
He died without any registered Next Of Kin as he was a divorcee and had no
child. On your confirmation of this message and indicating your interest,
I will furnish you with more details.
Please endeavour to provide me the following in your reply:
1. Your Full Name:
2. Your Contact Address:
3. Your Profession:
4. Your Age:
5. Your Phone:
I hope to get your response as soon as possible.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Frank Abonga
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Anti-fraud resources:
