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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mve" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bernardmve@myself.com>
Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 01:25:14 +0100
Subject: PRIVATE BUSINESS/URGENT
ATTENTION: THE PRESIDENT/CEO
PRIVATE BUSINESS
DEAR SIR,
MY NAME IS BERNARD MVE,I AM A TOP OFFICIAL IN THE GABON OIL MINISTRY.
I AM LOOKING FOR A FOREIGN ACCOUNT TO TRANSFER THE SUM OF FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLERS.
THIS MONEY IS FROM COMMISSIONS MADE FROM SALES OF CRUDE OIL.
BUT AS A GOVERNMENT CIVIL SERVANT,I AM NOT ALLOWED BY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY TO MAKE/TAKE A COMMISSIONS AND ALSO TO OPERATE A FOREIGN ACCOUNT ANYWHERE THAT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO RECEIVE THE MONEY.
YOU WILL BE PRESENTED AS A COMMISSION AGENT AND THE MONEY WILL THEN BE TRANSFERED TO YOUR ACCOUNT/BANK.
THIS TRANSACTIONS IS WELL PLANNED.
YOU WILL TAKE ONLY TWENTY PERCENT OF THE MONEY FOR PROVIDING THE REQUIRED ACCOUNT/BANK DETAILS.
IN YOUR REPLY INCLUDE YOUR BANK/ACCOUNT DETAILS ,YOUR MOBILE/PRIVATE TELEPHONE NUMBERS FOR MORE CONFIDENTIAL DETAILS.
REPLY URGENTLY SO THAT WE CAN CONCLUDE EARLY.
BEST REGARDS,
BERNARD MVE.
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Anti-fraud resources:
