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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:
- "hundred thousand united state 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Miriam Alexander <miriamhasua@praize.com>
Reply-To: miriamalexander1@yahoo.cn
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:23:23 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Good Morning My Dear,
Good Morning My Dear,
Greeting to you and Hope you are doing ver fine today. My name is Miriam.I am the Only Daughter of my Late Parent Mr and Mrs Martin Alexander. I am 20 years old. I am a Native of Serria Leone. Please i am written you because i needed your assistance. My Late father was a reputable Gold merchant during his day, It is very sad that my Late father died mysteriously during one of his business trips abroad. But before my Late father died he told me privately that he deposited the sum of ($5,200,000.00) Five Million Two Hundred Thousand United State Dollars in the foreign bank and that he deposited the fund in my name as the next of kin. I have all the Legal Deposit Receipt of this fund in my possension.
Now i need you to be my foreign partner to transfer this Fund in your country for an investments. Please get back to me so i can detail you about this Deposit. I strongly believe that this transfer can only take us few days if we directly reach in contact with Bank for the transfer. Please, Consider this and get back to me as soon as possible so that i will inform you more details. I wait to hear from you.
Best RegardsMiss.Miriam Alexander
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