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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)
- "million us 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Abdoulaye Koanda" <aisha648955@gmail.com>
Reply-To: abkoanda92@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2021 01:55:54 +0000
Subject: Dear Friend
Dear Friend,
With due respect to your person and much sincerity of purpose,Well it
is a pleasure to contact you on this regard and i pray that this will
turn out to be everlasting relationship for both of us.Presently i
work in the Bank as bill and exchange manager.
I have the opportunity of transferring the left over fund $10.4
Million us dollars to your Bank account, and i will use my position
here in the bank to effect a hitch free transfer of the fund to your
bank account and there will be no trace.I agree that 40% of this money
will be for you as my foriegn partner,50% for me while 10% will be for
the expenses that will occur in this transaction .If you are really
interested in my proposal further details of the Transfer will be
forwarded unto you as soon as I receive your willingness mail for
successful transfer.
Yours Faithfully,
Dr. Abdoulaye Koanda.
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Anti-fraud resources:
