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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 beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "United Nations" <no-reply.un-gh.org@MABR-AST-02.localdomain>
Reply-To: <aw5120057@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2018 03:24:46 -0700
Subject: Dear Beneficiary
Dear Beneficiary,
One Mrs. Andalina Cooks came to the office claiming you
instructed her to come and receive the payment on your
behalf with some representatives. She stated you died some
time ago I have asked them to come back TUESDAY as they did
not provide any power of an attorney from you which will
proof that you truly sent them.This was to enable me contact
you to verify how genuine this people are to you.The
question is below
1. Did you instruct one Mrs. Andalina Cooks to claim and
receive the payment on your payment?
2. Did you sign any 'Deed of agreement' in her favor ??
3 Agricultural Development Bank Ghana has been solely
empowered and authorized to offset all outstanding payment
exclusively for and on behalf of the Nigerian
Government Note that any correspondence or transaction
carried out with any other person(s)/institution except
Agricultural Development Bank Ghana is done at your own
risk and thus, we stand no chance to accept or condone any
complain of misfortune that might arise or cause you in such
contact.
Finally, you are hereby advised to indicate to this
honorable office with immediate effect, if you are the
person that instructed Mrs. Andalina Cooks to come for the claim.
For:UNITED NATIONS AGENCY
Christine Evans-Klock
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Anti-fraud resources:
