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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- ac.albertwong@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Albert Wong" <albertwong07@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ac.albertwong@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 18:27:50 +1000 (EST)
Subject: Next Of Kin
Dear Friend,
I am Albert Wong, an Accountant with HSBC Bank Malaysia. I will like to
propose a transaction that will be of our mutual benefit. A deceased
client of mine that shares the same last name as yours died as a result of
heart-related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due
to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on
the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia where they all lost their
lives. Currently his account of US$7.3 million with us has been unclaimed
due to unavailability of next of kin/relatives to claim his estate.
Since none of the family relative is alive to claim these funds, haven
waited until now for any relative next of kin to surface in our custody; I
decided to contact you fast so that I can present you as the relative next
of kin to my late client before the funds are confiscated. You don’t need
to worry yourself in this transaction. I will provide the legal documents
in your name and favor.
Hence I am seeking your cooperation and understanding to stand as the
deceased next of kin to enable us claim the inheritance before the period
given elapse. If you are interested and in agreement with me, get back to
me quickly using my e-mail listed below and I will send to you all our
contacts and the information you may need to proceed. The proceedings will
be shared 35%
for you 55% for me and 10% for any expenses we incurred during this process.
Best Regards,
Albert Wong
ac.albertwong@gmail.com
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