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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- "confidential business" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- jamil_sami@mail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- if you could contact me through my direct email address: jamil_sami@mail.com a swift acknowledgment of the receipt (Mail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Jamil Sami <summerblueblr@gmail.com>
Reply-To: jamil_samii@mail.com
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:52:19 +0800
Subject: Good Day
Dear Friend.
I am Mr. Jamil Sami. I work as the Foreign Operations Manager with a
reputable bank. Although the world is very small place and hard place to
meet people because you don't know who to trust or believe, but I have
made up my mind to confide this confidential business suggestion to you.
There is an over due unclaimed sum of US$8.7Million in my bank, belonging
to one of our dead foreign customers. There were no beneficiaries stated
concerning these funds. Therefore, your request as a foreigner is necessary
to apply for the claim and release of the fund smoothly into your reliable
bank account as the Foreign Business Partner to the deceased.
If you will like to assist me as a partner then indicate your interest
after which we shall both discuss the modalities and the sharing
percentage. All other information to facilitate the remittance of the funds
will be revealed to you in due course. If you are not interested, please
also indicate so that it will enable me to contact other foreign partners
who might be interested to work with me. I will appreciate if you could
contact me through my direct email address:
jamil_sami@mail.com<jamil_samii@mail.com>
A swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this letter and early
establishment of position will be appreciated.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Jamil Sami.
Foreign Operations Dept
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Anti-fraud resources:
