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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: David McKay <billandrew13@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mckaydavid18@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 07:04:45 -0700
Subject: RE: YOUR MAIL
Dear Sir/Madam.
I have been expecting to read from you, does it mean that you did not
get my first mail to you? I am Mr David McKay a bank internal
auditor, I contacted you about $6.4 million U.S.Dollars left in the
account of our late client Mr Innocent Brown who died in motor
accident and I want to find out from you if you can handle a financial
transaction your own cousin, I promise you 50% as a percentage of the
fund.
Upon hearing from you, I will give you comprehensive details about
this transaction.
Have a nice day.
Royal Bank of Canada
Mr. David McKay
http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/down2-mckay.html
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Anti-fraud resources:
