419 scam: "Mr. Joseph Eze"<acdinfo2011@att.net> Dear Friend Mutual Benefit of Equity Business Investment.

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Joseph Eze" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.josepheze@yahoo.fr>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 14:11:41 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend Mutual Benefit of Equity Business Investment.

Dear Friend,

For confidential reasons, I am using my personal email address entirely for this transaction. I am Mr. Joseph Eze chief accountant to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) I wish you to help me lay claims to a balance funds derived from a contract executed by one of our late contractor, the total contract sum was US$150, 000,000.00 and US$138,000,000.00 has already been paid leaving a balance of US$12,000,000.00.

It is my intention to form a company with you when the funds are paid, if you are of genuine intention write to me with your details to enable us proceed

Best regards,
Mr. Joseph Eze

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam