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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Arthur Francis" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.arthurfrancis03@live.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:27:29 -0700
Subject: YOUR URGENT RESPONSE PLEASE,
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Arthur Francis a Ghanaian Diplomat in Gabon . I have no doubt that you are aware of the recent happenings in Gabon on the death of our long time President OMAR BONGO who left this World after a brief illness.
As a Diplomat, the Late President Omar Bongo and I had a bilateral agreement to invest some funds in my home Country Ghana through a proxy and funds was set aside for the purpose but could not be moved to Africa before his untimely death.
Now the funds are in Europe ( Spain ) and I do not want to bring it to Africa due to prevailing circumstances and therefore I need a sincere and honest person to assist us to invest the funds successfully in a more stable economy.
This is why I am soliciting for your assistance to assist us to conclude the wire transaction and investment of the funds.
We will give you further details if you indicate your willingness and ability to assist us.
We await your response and further directives.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Arthur Francis.
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Anti-fraud resources:
