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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:
- "contract award committee" (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: "S. Ledo" <belona@belona.com.br>
Reply-To: samuel.lado2016@yandex.com
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2016 14:38:08 -0300
Subject: Att:Dear
I brought a potential Business Proposal at your door step for consideration.
My name is Samuel Ledo, chief procurement officer as well as the chairman of the
contract award committee of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). My
colleagues and I have a total sum of USD35 million we want to move out of the country.
This sum was gotten from over inflated contract and procurement of oil rig, system
optimization and installation for of oil pipeline for the agency. This contract was
awarded in 2010 to an expatriate company with a special understanding and arrangement.
The contract has been executed and commissioned while the company has been paid their
full contract sum remaining the inflated cost which is now fully secured and safe We
cannot be able to claim this fund by ourselves owing to our positions in the government
as our civil service rules forbids us from owing or operating domiciliary account. We
now want a foreign business partner that can claim and invest this fund for us in a
profitable venture for our collective benefit.
If you want to partner with us, kindly reply this mail with your communication nos for
further information.
Thanks
Regards,
S. Ledo
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Anti-fraud resources:
