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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: "Sgt Mike Edem" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgtmikeedem@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:39:07 -0700
Subject: Attention.
Attention
I am an American soldier ‘Sgt Mike Edem I am serving in the military
with the 1st Armored Division in Iraq till date. As you may know, we are
being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs/suicide bombers.
However, I managed to move part of funds belonging to Saddam Hussein's
family in 2009. The total amount is USD$20 Million dollars in cash mostly
100 dollar bills. This money has been kept somewhere outside Baghdad for
some time but with the proposed troop in-increase by President Barrack
Obama to end the war and make peace with Iraq militant and terrorist i am
afraid that the money may be discovered. Hence i want to make sure that
the money is in a safe hand pending the completion of our assignment here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
Also, could you get back to me having visited the above website to enable
us discuss in a more vivid manner to the best of your understanding. I
must say that I'm very uncomfortable sending this message to you without
knowing truly if you would misconstrue the importance and decide to go
public.In this regards,I will not hold backto say that the essence of this
letter is strictly for mutual benefit of you and I and nothing more.I will
be more vivid and coherent in my next email in this regards and I really
hope that i can trust you and thereafter give you my true and full
identity.
Yours sincerely,
Sgt Mike Edem
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Anti-fraud resources:
