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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "to your nominated bank account" (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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: louis smith <louissmith003@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 13:14:00 +0100
Subject: Confirm Knowledge of Mr Kelly Kim.
Attn
We have a transfer instruction from Mr Kelly Kim in 2011 to credit your account with a sum of $20m twenty million Dollars fund that was deposited with la caixa bank of Spain.Due to reasons unknown to us, I haven’t heard from him since march 2012. I just recently heard from a reliable source that he is late. He died due to illness unknown to us.
This is to notify you that funds has been programmed for immediate release into your nominated account,You are to get an online account with our bank as we can not transfer this funds direct to your nominated bank account, because we are having a little problem with International Monetary Fund (IMF)You are to get back to us with a prof of identity and other information that can help us.Waiting for your urgent response.
Regards,
Louis Smith
Customer care Unit
la caixa bank.
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Anti-fraud resources:
