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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 u.s 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: David Ponzo <davidponzo@att.net>
Reply-To: david_ponzo1@hotmail.fr
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 07:56:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Read and Respond From David.
Read and Respond From David.
It is my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend to establish in your country. There is this amount of Four Million seven Hundred Thousand U.S dollars ($4,700,000.00) which my late Father deposited for me in a vault diplomatic storage here in Abidjan before his death.
I have decided to invest this money in your country and under your care where it will be safe enough outside the Country for security and political reasons. I want you to help me to retrieve the box from the vault diplomatic company and transfer this fund from here into your personal account in your country for investment purposes on the areas where tax will not be much.
If you can be of an assistance to me, I will be pleased to offer to you 20% of the total fund.
I await your soonest response.
Kind regard,
David Ponzo Kone.
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Anti-fraud resources:
