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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)
- "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)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Peter Uche <peteruche7@ig.com.br>
Reply-To: peter.uche@mail.ru
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:24:35 +0800
Subject: CONTENT
*CONTENT,
Good day,How are you today? your delivery fee have be paid for your Cheque
to be delivered to you directly at your doorstep. After i verified that the
expiry date is close at hand.
More with the help of the CIMB BANK Manager here in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, i
was able to covert the $2.000,000.00 (two million Dollars) to a valid ATM
CARD in your favor kept to avoid losting this funds.
Now Contact the INTERNATIONAL CARGO TRANSPORT(ITC) with the registration
number,ITCG/KPT/DRE/876/2010 and also the security code of 724kwH. The
director of (ITC) told me that through their correspondent in ORLANDO
FLORIDA your ATM CARD WILL BE DELIVERED TO YOU WITHIN THE NEXT 18hours.
Contact Person; Mr Othman Hashim
Email to:filecounter@hotmail.my
Send your full contact's details to them for immediately delivery of the ATM
CARD without delay.
Regards,
Mrs Marlyn Jose.*
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Anti-fraud resources:
