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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:
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Ahmed Umar -Zenith Bank Plc <iinfo5298@gmail.com>
Reply-To: au0726403@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:21:45 -0800
Subject: Re: Inheritance Fund Update Of Your Relation.
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Hello Sir ,
I am Mr Ahmed Umar of Zenith Bank Plc, the account manager to 'Late
Engineer Micheal Khan " a citizen of your country who worked with
Chevron oil company here in Nigeria that died with his wife from the
Covid-19 pandemic Virus attack as they went to holidays in their
country leaving $5.7million in his account . As his account Manager i
contacted you to seek your consent to partner with me for the fund to
be transferred to your account in your country as his brother or next
of kin.
Having no child or any next of kin i wish you can reason with me so
that i can enforce the transfer of the fund to your account and we
share it 60/40% for your participation.
If you are interested let me know for more details .
.
Mr Ahmed Umar.
Foreign Exchange Manager,
Zenith Bank Plc
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Anti-fraud resources:
