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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Charles Kone <dir.abelkonanbiaoci@gmail.com>
Reply-To: kone1charles@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2024 18:03:45 +0200
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE
Dear Sir
Compliments of the SEASONS I think you are having a wonderful day?
I am Mr CHARLES KONE a regional bank manager of a local bank here in
ABIDJAN-Côte d'Ivoire. I have discovered a surplus amount of money that was
kept in a suspense account without any beneficiary coming forth to claim
it. I am therefore contacting you so that we can work together to get the
said funds transfer to your bank account and the percentage is forty
percent for you and sixty percent for me. All I need from you is to present
yourself as the next of kin of the depositor, so that our head office will
order the transfer to your designated bank account.
If you accept this offer to work with me, please reply for further details.
Yours sincerely
Mr Charles Kone
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Anti-fraud resources:
