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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:
- "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)
- "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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: Poullet Brown <poulletb111@gmail.com>
Reply-To: alfredlaw1860@yahoo.it
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 21:51:26 +0100
Subject:
Attn; Sir / Madam,
We have in our record an outstanding authorised payment for thirty two
million dollars only (32 million) in your favor
Bank Of Africa is the only bank authorized by member countries of
Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) to transfer the
approved / authorized outstanding payments.
. On the 04/1/14 we received a letter from one Mr.Dusty Jennings, Bend
Oregun USA requesting the bank to change / transfer the above stated
amount in your favor to the new beneficiary viz;
Dusty Jennings
WELLS FARGO BANK
BEND OREGUN USA
ACCT #; 3954333260
ROUTING #; 125008547
ACCT NAME; DUSTY JENNINGS.
The bank is not comfortable with the said letter thus we decided to
contact you if you are aware of the letter of change of beneficiary to
us.
If actually you are aware of such letter please confirm to us other
wise please reconfirm your account because Bank Of Africa WILL NOT be
held responsible for any mistake in this direction.
As soon as we recieve a confirmed account from you, the transfer would
be made by swift wire transfer as soon as possible
We wait for your immediate response to this mail.
Regards,
Johnson Ahijovi,
foreignoperation-payment Dept
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Anti-fraud resources:
