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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:
- "transfer into your account" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Naike Naebube" <k.ah@chaiyo.com>
Reply-To: m.naikenaebube@chaiyo.com
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:23:29 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Directly To You As Reviewed
Can you or your friend provide an empty account that can
receive (18,500, 000, 00 united state dollar) in your country without any
problem? Please confirm with me so you can provide it and receive the above
mentioned fund. For your kind information, the above mentioned fund was
discovered in a dormant account of a deceased customer during our last month
annual audit report.
Â
Â
if your interested and capable for such transactional
deal, indicate your genuineness and willingness by providing me your full
information as listed below for self assurance of whom I am trusting so I can
send you a simple note to send to the bank so the bank can tell you if there are
some obligations that need to be done before the fund can be processed for
transfer into your account:
Â
Â
Your full name……………………………….
Country………………………………………..
Residential address……………………………………
Mobile phone number………………………………………
Fax number…………………………………..
Present
occupation…………………………………………………..
Age……………………………………………………………….
Marital status………………………………………………….
A copy of
photograph…………………………………………………..
Â
Â
For more clarification, you are free to telephone me on
+22678784625.
Sincerely
Mr. Naike
Naebube.Â
Â
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Anti-fraud resources:
