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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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Diallo Ouattara" <info@tl-bilder.de>
Reply-To: dialloquattara98@keemail.me
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2018 08:06:37 -0800
Subject: urgent help please!
Hello,
I am Steve Diallo Ouattara and 19 years old, the only child of late Dr. And Mrs. Rosemary Ouattara, my father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant based in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast before he was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings to discuss a business deal after which i investigated and found out the genesis of this act by his partner. My father deposited the sum of 10.5 million dollars in a bank overseas his business associates wants to divert this money which is my inheritance I found the document and I am in possession of it as I speak to you my life is being threatened I have had several assassination attempts and I am really scared right now. This man is so desperate all I want is someone to put my trust on that will help me transfer this fund to his/her country and I will fly down to your country for safety reasons please have in mind that you are not doing this for free as I will kindly compensate you for any inconveniences I may have caused you by giving 10% of this money after we successfully accomplish this together please kindly get back to me with your contact details so I can furnish you with necessary information.
Kind regards
Diallo Ouattara
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Anti-fraud resources:
