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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.
- This email message is a "New Partner from Paraguay" 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.
- musratshafi@yahoo.fr (Yahoo, France; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Gulban Ahmed <gulbanahmed75@yahoo.de>
Reply-To: gulbanalhmed@sify.com
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 08:39:14 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Contact my secretary for your payment urgent.
Dear Friend,
A pleasant day to you and your family,
I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting that fund transferred to United State of Amirica through the assistance of a good friend.
I did not forget your past effort to assist me despite the fact that it failed us some how so I kept some amount for you in my own appreciation of your efforts and this is compensation to you. I am now in UK with my family, but will go to Saudi Arabia for my investment.
Now I want you to contact my secretary on this information below:
Name: Mr. Musrat Shafi.
Email: musratshafi@yahoo.fr
Telephone: +229 99 13 39 75.
Contact him and ask him to send you the Certified CITIBANK Draft I dropped with him for you. The DRAFT contains the sum of Nine Hundred and fifty Thousand Uinted States Dollars (US$950,000.00) only. I hope the sum will give you a new lease in life. I will communicte with you again when I am through with my projects in about 5 months time at most.
Best regards,
Mr.Gulban Ahmed.
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Anti-fraud resources:
