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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:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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)
- "million united states 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)
- ",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)
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Philip Marquis" <philipmarquiis1954@gmail.com>
Reply-To: philipmarquis1954@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:59:23 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Enquiries
Greetings to you,
This letter might also come to you as a surprise but it is coming with the
best of intentions and will be of mutual benefit to all the parties
involved. I am Philip Marquis the Lawyer to the former LIBERIAN PRESIDENT
CHARLES TAYLOR here after referred to as my client,i am writing to solicit
your assistance to secure funds that are already on his way to your
country (HOLLAND) with a Cargo company. The fund in question is a total of
$45,000,000 (Forty Five Million United States Dollars) in $100 bills and
stashed in Two trunk boxes and was shipped out of Liberia through a
diplomatic means by a Cargo company and they are not aware of the real
content of the boxes for security reasons.
The boxes are already on its way to HOLLAND and under the custody of one
of there staff .I am looking For your assistance in getting the boxes out
from the Cargo company and securing the funds, we will give you 15% of the
total fund.
NOTE: There is no risk involved in this project because I am involved as
their Lawyer. Therefore contact me for further directives. Please you
should keep this transaction a top secret as we are prepared to do more
business with you pending your approach towards this project.
I await your urgent response.
Philip Marquis
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Anti-fraud resources:
