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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "hundred thousand us 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 next of kin scam.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- deni.williams2@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: DANI WILLIAM <deni.williams2009@gmail.com>
Reply-To: deni.williams2@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:42:47 +0700
Subject: RE: PERSONAL PROJECT
>From Mr Deni William
Auditing and Account manager
Lippo Bank Jakarta Indonesia
Attention:
I am a staff of Lippo Bank Jakarta. I am writing following an opportunity in my office
that will be of benefit to both of us. In my department we discovered an abandoned
sum of $7.5 million,(Seven Million five hundred thousand Us Dollars)in an account that
belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Mr. Hall Harris an American who unfortunately
lost his life in the Tsunami disaster in Thailand 2004.,including his wife and Two of his daughters.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his partner or relatives to come
over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as partner or
relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking law and guild lines.
Unfortunately I leant that his supposed next of kin being his two daughters died along with him in the
with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided
to make the deal with you and transfer this money to you as the partner of beneficiary of the funds for
safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money
to go back into Bank treasury as unclaimed bill.
The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money remained after five years the money will be
transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed funds. We agreed that 47.5% of this money will be for you as
foreign partner,5% will be use to upset expenses that might in cure on the course of making this transaction
a successful one, while 47.5% will be for me. Please note that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release
of these funds to you has been finalized. I will discuss more in details when I do receive your response.
You can reach me in my private email: deni.williams2@gmail.com or phone number +622133800377.
Best regards,
Mr Deni William
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