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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- hdjahmed9@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: HADJI AHMED <salp95@live.com>
Reply-To: hdjahmed9@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 14:55:32 +0900 (KST)
Subject: MONSIEUR / MADAMA
MONSIEUR / MADAMA
MAY THE PEACE OF ALMIGHTY GOD BE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
PLS!!!I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE IN TRANSFERRING THE SUM OF
USD$13.5MILLION) UNITED STATE DOLLARS TO YOUR ACCOUNT WITHIN FEW'S BANKING WORKING DAYS..
THIS MONEY HAS BEEN DORMANT FOR YEARS IN OUR BANK WITHOUT ANY BODYSTANDING AS BENEFICIARY TO THE FUND. I WANT YOU TO STAND AS A NEXT OF KIN AND I WILL ASSIST YOU IN PULLING IT OUT FROM THE BANK TREASURY INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION. PLEASE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED KINDLY GET IN TOUCH WITH ME AS SOONAS POSSIBLE WITH THE SAME PRIVATE E-MAIL ADDRESS BELOW: hdjahmed9@gmail.com
I WILL BE EXPECTING TO HEAR FROM YOU.
THANKS
HADJI AHMED
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Anti-fraud resources:
