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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:
- "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "JOE CHAKA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jchaka51@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 17:03:00 +0100
Subject: FUNDS FOR JOINT INVESTMENTS ...
Dear Sir,
My name is Joe Chaka from Nigeria. I have some funds to transfer to you for joint investment. Can you help to receive the funds for this purpose while I
come over there or send a representative to meet with you in person for further discussion on the investment details. For your information, the funds originated as gratification from contracts awarded in Nigeria between January, 2008 & October, 2008 where I was a top member of the Contract Award Committee. This is a clean business deal and I would let you know the nature of the contracts in the course of this transaction which you can freely verify if you so desire. This is absolutely no scam mail and please note that time is of essence in this transaction.
Awaiting your urgent response.
Regards,
Joe
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Anti-fraud resources:
