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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)
- "trunk box" (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)
- "million 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.Kwadwo Afari-Gyan" <info@live.com>
Reply-To: kwadwoafari54@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2013 11:53:26 -0500 (COT)
Subject: GOOD DAY
Dear Friend,
I know it will surprise you to receive this email from me.
I am Dr.Kwadwo Afari-Gyan the Chairman of the Electoral Commission Ghana
(EC).
I am contacting you regarding a funds worth the sum of $6 million dollars.
The money is the excess of the funds use for Biometric Voter's
Registration for voters for the 2012 election.
The funds was budgeted for the Biometric Voter's Registration the total
funds is worth $20 million dollars and we succeeded in spending $14
million dollars in the process remaining an access of $6 million dollars
which I have deposited in a security firm here in Ghana.
The security did not know the actual content in the trunk box what I
declare when making the deposit was that it was family valuables.
As civil servants we are not allowed to run foreign accounts. that was why
i decided to deposit it in a security firm here in Ghana.
If you are interested in the proposal kindly get back to me by sending me
your letter of acceptance along with your direct telephone and fax
numbers.
Note that your area of specialization is irrelevant to this transaction
and the transaction is expected to be concluded within few days if you
adhere to my instruction.
I await your response so that i can furnish you with further detail
regarding the transaction.
yours truly,
Dr.Kwadwo Afari-Gyan
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Anti-fraud resources:
