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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Tony Scott <aff-snff@att.net>
Reply-To: tonyscott30@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 00:21:26 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: MR.Tony Scott
From the
Desk of Tony
Scott Manager in one
of the prime Banks in South Africa
Â
Â
Dear Friend,
 Â
Â
I know that this mail will come
to you as a surprise. I am the Bill and Exchange  Manager in one
of the prime Banks in South Africa . I Hope that you will not expose or betray
this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit
of our both families.
Â
I need your urgent assistance in
transferring the sum of $15.6 million immediately to your account. The money has
been dormant for the past years in our Bank here without any body coming for it.
 Â
Â
I want to release the money to
you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the owner of the account)
who died along with his supposed next of kin in an air Crash since July 2000. I
don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund. So this
is the reason why I contacted you, so that the bank can release the money to you
as the nearest person to the deceased customer.
Â
Please I will like you to keep
this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not interested. Upon receipt
of your reply, I will send you full details on how the Business will be executed
and also note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned sum. Acknowledge the
receipt of this message by furnishing me with the following:
Â
Your Full Name...
Your Personal Mobile
Number......
Your Personal Fax
Number…….
Â
MR.Tony
Scott
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