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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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Ki woo hyungsik
Reply-To: 9g7eglns@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2018 17:39:45 +0800
Subject: REQUEST FOR FUND TRANSFER (URGENT)
Dear Friend,
Let me start by introducing myself, I am Ki woo hyungsik Accountant/Executive
board of Directors
Bank of American
I am writing you this letter based on the latest development at my Department which
I will like to bring to your personal edification. (27.5 million U.S Dollars transfer
claims).
This is a legitimate transaction and I agreed to offer you 40% of this money as my
foreign partner after confirmation of the fund in your bank account, mind you
The transaction is 100% risk free as I have studied and investigated the transaction
properly as a professional banker and discovered that it's risk free before making
contact to you.
If you are interested Kindly get back to me for more details
Regards
Mr, Ki woo hyungsik
Accountant/Executive
board of Directors
Bank of American.
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Anti-fraud resources:
