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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:
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- ecowaspaymentoffice771@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Ecowas Office" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ecowaspaymentoffice771@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:31:50 -0000
Subject: Attn:Beneficiary.
Ecowas Regional Foreign Payment Commission
Under the Supervision of United Nations
Ecowas Approved Offshore Payment Centre
Accra -Ghana
Attn:Beneficiary.
Wire Transfer Payment Report to the Owner / Beneficiary
For the last time in our payment schedules, we humbly write to re-affirm the
truthfulness of the information of the beneficiary bank account as confirmed to
us from the Data Department and Safe Keeping Office of the Ecowas Regional
Office Accra Ghana.
BANK NAME: BEMO S...A.L. / BEIRUT / LEBANON.
• BANK ADDRESS: SASINE AQUARE ASHRAFIA - BEIRUT - LEBANON.
• BANK FAX: +961-1-329351
• ACCOUNT NO: 0020648 / BBSF.
• ACCOUNT NAME: YASSIN R. AL-BAALI / BBSF.
• SWIFT CODE: EUMOLBBE.
The execution of your wire transfer would be carry out to the above bank account
as stated and therefore, before we do this conclusively we strongly advice you
to get back to this commission for possible re-affirmation or otherwise.
This message is coming to you because of our bad experiences as a result of
contradictory and multi-complicated information coming from Ecowas Sub Region
where your payment originated. You are therefore advised to expressly get in
touch with this commission for possible confirmation of your approved payment to
the above bank account as programmed already
Accept our deepest apology for the delay in releasing your payment as directed.
NOTE".PLEASE REPLY STRICTLY TO THIS DIRECT EMAIL ......
ecowaspaymentoffice771@gmail.com
Our Best Regards.
Hon, Mark Ben.
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Investigations Department
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Anti-fraud resources:
