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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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Christopher Kanu <chr_kanu@1000000jf.com>
Reply-To: Christopher Kanu <chrr1_kanu_209@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:02:13 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
Subject: I NEED ASSITSTANCE
I NEED ASSITSTANCE
Dear Friend,
I know my message will come as a surprise to you as we have never met before, but need not to worry as no one is informed of this communication. I need your assistance in transferring the sum of $11.3million to your account.The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for years now without anybody coming for the claim of it.
I want to release the money to you as the relative to our deceased customer (the account owner) who died since 31 January 2000. The Banking laws here does not allow such money to stay more than 10 years,because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury account as unclaimed fund.
By indicating your interest I will send you the full details on how the business will be executed.
Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.
Please, provide me the following: this is urgent please.
1. Your Full Name:
2. Your Phone Number:
3. Your Contact Address:
4. Your Proffession:
Having gone through a methodical search, I decided to contact you hoping that
you will find this proposal interesting. Please on your confirmation of this
message and indicating your interest, I will furnish you with more
information. Endeavor to let me know your decision rather than keep me
waiting.
Best regards
Christopher Kanu
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Anti-fraud resources:
