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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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Naike Naebube" <k.ah@chaiyo.com>
Reply-To: m.naikenaebube@chaiyo.com
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 04:15:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Directly To You.
Can you or your friend provide an empty account that can
receive (18,500, 000, 00 united state dollar) in your country without any
problem? Please confirm with me for immediate execution of a deceased dormant
account discovered in our last month annual audit report. We’re contacting you
as the deceased else business partner so we will have the right to execute his
account balance and transfer it to your account and close down the deceased
account completely to avoid tress.Â
Â
if your able and capable for such transactional deal,
indicate your genuineness and willingness by providing me your full information
as listed below for self assurance of whom I am trusting because I only
discovered your E-mail address where you registered it.Â
Â
Your full name……………………………….
Country………………………………………..
Residential address……………………………………
Mobile phone number………………………………………
Fax number…………………………………..
Present
occupation…………………………………………………..
Age……………………………………………………………….
Marital status………………………………………………….
A copy of
photograph…………………………………………………..
Â
Â
For benefit of doubt, you are free to telephone me on
+22678784625. Call me as soon as you reply the mail with the above
information.
Â
Sincerely
Mr. Naike Naebube.
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Anti-fraud resources:
