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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:
- "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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- akhalifa@terra.com (Terra; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Ben Mor Khalifa <ahmeadardk@ozu.es>
Reply-To: akhalifa@terra.com
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2010 06:35:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Your Responds From Mr Khalifa:
Dear Faithful Friend,
I know my message will come as a surprise to you as we have never met before, but need not to worry as no one is informed of this communication. I need your assistance in transferring the sum of USD7.3million(Seven Million and three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) to your account.The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for years now without anybody coming for the claim of it.
I want to release the money to you as the relative to our deceased customer (the account owner) who died since 31 January 2001. The Banking laws here does not allow such money to stay more than 10 years,because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury account as unclaimed fund.
By indicating your interest I will send you the full details on how the business will be executed while your information as this are required;
This is mandatory, kindly complete the below form to reconfirm your Postal information:
FULL
NAMES:..
TELEPHONE...
POSTAL
ADDRESS..
CITY:..
STATE...
COUNTRY...
Kindly contact my private email on: akhalifa@terra.com
Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.
Best Regards Sincerely
Yours Mr Ben M, Khalifa.
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Anti-fraud resources:
