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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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Karim Ahmed <kar.ah.dk44@msn.com>
Reply-To: <kar.ah@chaiyo.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:36:19 +0000
Subject: ARE YOU IN POSITION TO RECEIVE IT?
DEAR HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE KEEPING FINE. MY NAME IS KARIM AHMED THE AUDITING MANAGER BANK OF AFRICA (BOA) OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA- FASO. PLEASE I AM CONTACTING YOU TO KNOW IF YOU ARE IN POSITION TO RECEIVE “UNITED STATE DOLLAR” (US$ 18,500, 000, 00) IN YOUR POSITION. PLEASE CONFIRM WITH ME FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSFERRING OF THE FUND TO YOUR POSITION.
THE SAID FUND WAS DISCOVERED FROM DORMANT ACCOUNT OF A DECEASED CUSTOMER DURING OUR LAST MONTH ANNUAL AUDIT REPORT. AFTER SEVERAL INVESTIGATION OF THE DECEASED SUPPOSE NEXT OF KIN, WE FIND OUT THAT HE DID NOT IDENTIFY HIS SUPPOSE NEXT OF KIN WHEN HE OPENED ACCOUNT WITH OUR BANK. IT IS UPON THIS REASON THAT WE NOW DECIDE TO EXECUTE THE ACCOUNT AND TRANSFER THE MONEY TO YOUR COUNTRY.
IF WE CAN TRUST YOU IN THIS PROJECT; INDICATE YOU’RE GENUINENESS AND WILLINGNESS BY PROVIDING ME YOUR FULL INFORMATION AS LISTED BELOW:
YOUR FULL NAME……………..
COUNTRY & RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS………………..
MOBILE PHONE NUMBER ………………….
FAX NUMBER ……………………
OCCUPATION…………………….
AGE …………………..
MARITAL STATUS ……………….
PHOTOGRAPH…………………….
SINCERELY
KARIM AHMED
+226 78784625.
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Anti-fraud resources:
