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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 us 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)
- "accredited attorney" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "imfbeninbj@msn.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "bkplcstandardchartered@w.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: fred_thomas11@yahoo.fr
Reply-To: fred_thomas@hotmail.fr
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:04:23 +0800
Subject: Attn:
UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION
Africa Zonal office-Benin
Office of The Director Special duties.
Email; imfbeninbj@msn.com
Attn:
We write to notify you that we have approved the sum of 1 Million US dollars to be transfer to you as compensation for the delay and conciliation of your payment by
this organization. We discovered that your have been scammed in Africa and your payment was legally approved to you without any obligation and therefore we are
using this opportunity to apologize to you for the delay caused by this organization and caused you not to receive your payment as at when due. We are
compensating you as it is stipulated in Section B act 4 of United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) guide lines and regulations of 08/04/2003
You can visit our web sit:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/ik344.doc.htm
our accredited attorney have already pay in your fund with Standard Chartered Bank Plc London, you have to contact the Bank immediately for your login name and
the pin code of your online account and to transfer your fund directly to any of your account.
Send to the Bank you contacts information address to update your account profile.
This is the contact of the Bank below:
Standard Chartered Bank Plc
E-mail: bkplcstandardchartered@w.cn
We will be waiting to hear from you as soon as you transfer your fund to your account to shear the joy together with you, Let me know as soon as you had from the
Bank.
Yours Faithfully,
Dr Fred Thomas
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Anti-fraud resources:
