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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)
- 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.
- contactinfo65@yahoo.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Babs Coker <babs7@postino.ch>
Reply-To: contactinfo65@yahoo.it
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 17:44:46 +0100
Subject: Reply Fast
Dear Friend,
I am writing on behalf of my partners We got your esteem contact on the
internet during my search for an honest foreign partner to partnership with.
I am the director in charge of contracts award for the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
This department charged with the responsibility of government projects in
the rural and urban of the federation.
We got commissions from some of the contracts we awarded to foreign
contractors to the tune of US$9M.
We as civil servants, cannot keep such amount in our personal account based
on the law guiding all civil servants in our federation and this has been a
hindrance on my side.
We need a foreign partnership who will stand as a contractor to move this
fund out of my country to your country without any problem on your side.
We have done our home work very well and we are sure of what we want to do
and how to do it.
25% of the total amount of US$9million will be for you, while the balance
75% will be for us.
kindly send me your phone number to reach you so as to discuss further about
this issue.
please send a reply to MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS: contactinfo65@yahoo.it
Waiting to hear from you.
ENGR. BABS COKER.
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Anti-fraud resources:
