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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)
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million 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)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "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: Yasir Khan <yasir_khan1@latinmail.com>
Reply-To: Yasir Khan <dr.yasirkhan2020@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2014 15:13:23 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: I Need Your Urgent Assistance.
Dear Friend,  Good day, I know this message will come to you as asurprise, I am audit and account manager in Bank of Africa (BOA) Ouagadougou Burkina Faso . I hope that you willnot expose or betray this trust and confidence that I repose on you for themutual benefits of our families.  I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sumof ($10.5 Million United State Dollars) into your Bank account. This money hasbeen dormant for years in our Bank without any body coming for the claim of thefund. I want the Bank to release the money to you as the Next of kin to ourdeceased customer (the owner of the account) died along with his supposed nextof kin in air crash on July 2006.  I don't want the money to go into our Governmenttreasurer account as an abandon fund. So this is the reason why I contacted youso that the Bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to thedeceased customer. Please I will like you to keep this proposal as a top secretand delete it if you are not interested.  Upon the receipt of your reply! I will give you thefull details on how the business will be executed and also note that you willhave 40% of the above mentioned sum if you agree to handle this business withme.  I will give you all the vital information about thistransaction as soon as I receive your reply, kindly fill your informationbellow. 1. Name in full:................... 2. Address:........................3. Nationality:....................4. Age:............................5. Sex:............................6. Occupation: .................... 7. Marital status:.................8. Phone:.......................... 9. Fax:............................ Yours Faithfully, Dr . Yasir Khan Accounts & Audit department Bank of Africa.
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