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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "foreign remittance manager" (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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "urgent assistance" (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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Allassan Zaza <allassan1zara@voila.fr>
Reply-To: allassan1zara@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:05:20 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: KINDLY REPLY VERY URGENT
FROM:MR. MR ALLASSAN ZARA
FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER.
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIALIknow that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never metbefore. I am the FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER of B.O.A Bank of African,
PLEASE PERMIT ME TO INFORM YOU OF MY DESIRE OF GOING INTO BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU.
IHoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident thatI am about to repose onyou for the mutual benefit of our both families.
I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of($18.5 million) Eighteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United StatesDollars immediately to your account. The money has been dormant(in-active) for 10 years in our Bank here without any body coming forit.
I want to release the money to you as thenearest person to our deceased customer (the owner of the account) whodied a long with his supposed next of kin in air crash since 2000.
Idon't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund,so this is the reason why I contacted you, so that my Bank will releasethe money to you as the nearest person to the deceased cutomer. PleaseI would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it ifyou are not interested.
Upon receipt of your reply, I will sendyou full details on how the business will be executed and also notethat youwill have 40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree tohelp me execute this business.
.
I want you to assure me your capability of handling this transaction with trust by giving me the following information details:
(1)NAME..............
(2)AGE:................
(3)SEX:.....................
(4)PHONE NUMBER:.................
(5)OCCUPATION :.....................
(6)YOUR COUNTRY:.....................
Thanks and waiting for your urgent response
Best Regards
Mr. Allassan Zara
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Anti-fraud resources:
