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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)
- "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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Osa Osaze" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrosaosaze@cabanova.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 09:48:26 -0700
Subject: Good Day My Noble Friend
My Dear Friend
My name is Osa Osaze, A staff of Ibtc Chartered Bank Plc. I head the Banks Treasury & Financial Services department. I am contacting you because i feel and believe that you could help in transferring and accommodating such amount of money that I want to transfer as fast as
possible as the case may be. This is to tell you the level of urgency needed.Due to the urgency of this transfer, i want to believe you can assist by getting back to me. The fund in question is gotten from over invoiced contract amount which is ready to be transferred immediately.
Its $10.5million Dollars.I am ready to share 50/50 with you all i need from you is maximum cooperation,trust and confidence. Upon your response I will tell you what to do and it will only take a few working weeks to getthe fund transferred. I will provide you my contact details as we
proceed.You can contact me with my email address: mrosaosaze@cabanova.com
Regards,
Osa Osaze
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Anti-fraud resources:
