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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)
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr AIME ILBOUDO <aimeilboudo01_28@sify.com>
Reply-To: mr.aimeilboudo01@sify.com
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:57:08 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Dear Friend,
Dear Friend,
Â
I am Aime ILBOUDO Deputy General Manager Finance & Administration, Societe Generale De Banques Au Burkina. I’m contacting you through this medium for an urgent beneficial transaction. I have the opportunity of transferring Four Million Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollars from an account that belongs to one of our customer’s from the United States of America who died long ago in heart related disease. Nobody has come for the funds as the deceased was residing permanently here in my country Burkina Faso. The bank will be transferring the funds into the Bank treasury as an unclaimed fund by the end of this year as stipulated by the banking law over such account that lingers dormant for more than five years. I want to hear from you so that I can file an application of claim in your name with the information’s of the deceased and the account as the benefited beneficiary of the account. Please this is supposed to take us only few bank working days
to conclude on the transfer for I have put everything in place before contacting you and there is no risk.
Thanks
Yours sincerely
Aime ILBOUDO
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Anti-fraud resources:
