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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:
- "million 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: Regina Muntari <reginamuntari022@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: reginamuntari@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:34:35 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: My plan
Good day,
I am Miss Regina Muntari from Vietnam working as a Banker here in Ghana
Africa under the instruction of my father who is a contractor and he
was having a big contract with government of Ghana on mining sector.My
father was kidnapped by hoodlums here in Africa who wanted to use him
as a point of contact to make money by threatening to kill
him if he did not give them 20 million dollars.My father later died in their hands due to heart failure and torture.
Since then the government of Ghana has been trying to recover my father
death body but could not.Right now am scared to walk to go any
where,This is my plan which I have not discussed with any body except
you.I want to move out of Ghana to another country with your help as my
father's partner.
My father has in my Bank 220 KG of Gold which he deposited for future
use and also $5.2 Million dollars which he deposited under treasury
bill with the bank.If you can be honest to me I can use my position in
the bank to withdraw and transfer this gold and fund to your country as
my father's partner.
I will give you my details once I hear from you.
Regina
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Anti-fraud resources:
