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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +22508677638 (Cote d'Ivoire, probably a prepaid mobile phone)
Fraud email example:
From: Dakoure O Talla <dakoure.o.talla@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Dakoure_O.Talla@live.com
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 12:11:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Mr Dakoure O. Talla
Dear Friend,
My name is Mr D. Talla the Liaison Officer to some group of politicians in Africa, who have some huge amount of funds to the tune of FIVE HUNDRED MILLION EURO kept in HSBC Bank in LONDON. This fund was meant to install candidates of their choice in top political positions of government in any country of their choice, But due to the political reforms that is taking place in these countries it has become impossible for them to manoeuvre there ways to achieve their ambition.
Therefore it was decided & agreed between themselves that these sum of FIVE HUNDRED MILLION EURO be put into use instead of being dormant in HSBC BANK London in as much as their political ambition has failed and it is almost impossible for them to repatriate this fund back to their various countries.
Therefore they decided that this amount be loaned out to fund managers or multi national companies who can manage the funds for an agreed period of one year subject to Renewal.
So as the liaison officer of the group I have been mandated to source out those companies, individuals, fund managers etc who may be in need of loan for one project or other. That is why I contacted you.
As you know this is outside what we have at hand we are politicians therefore you have to understand that this transaction has to be by Bank to Bank transaction between HSBC London
and your Bank.
Thanks
Mr Dakoure O. Talla
+225 0867 7638
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Anti-fraud resources:
