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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:
- "a security company " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "monrovia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Christian Duke" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richogno1@cantv.net>
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2009 03:42:00 -0000
Subject: From Mr Christian Duke
Good Day
My Name is Mr Christian Duke the only Son of Mr and Mrs Duke i am 20 year old My father was a very wealthy Gold Merchant in Monrovia the GoldCapital of republic of Liberia all in west africa.
Before the death of my father on 14th September 2008 my father told me that he deposited sum of (USD $15 MILLION FIFTEEN MILLION U.S DOLLARS ) in a security company here in Cote D'ivoire that he make agreement with the security company that this money will ship out of this country to his foreign business partner who will take care of me.
I m now hiding in a local place here and I will compensate you with 20% of this money if you help me to receive this money cash l hope you will not be tray the trust i have on you because this money is my only hope in this life and you will also help me to come over to your country to continue my education while you will invest my own share of the money for me.
so please I need your hlep to receive this money cash because the security company told me there well be presidential election which is going to take place any moment from now so please i want you to help me out of this condition before the presidential election will take place.
Await to here from you
Christian Duke
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Anti-fraud resources:
