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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:
- "usembassy.benin@msn.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "usembassy.benin@msn.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "James Knight." <gabitto1onho@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: usembassy.benin@msn.com
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2011 11:34:29 +0100 (BST)
Subject: United States Ambassador to the Republic of Benin
P {
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UL {
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OL {
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Greeting from U.S
Embassy,
usembassy.benin@msn.com
THIS MAIL
IS ONLY FOR THE OWNER OF THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS
ATTENTION:
Please i want to inform you that your fund was brought
to my desk this morning because that the director of the delivery company here
in benin republic said that they should divert your fund to the government
treasuries account just because that you can not pay for the delivery fee
of your fund which is $78 but i told them to wait untill i hear from you today
so that i will know the reason why you rejected such amount of money $2.5m
which will change your life just because of $78.
I want your urgent response as soon as you receive
this email and tell me the reason why you have abandon your fund or if you don't
need it then i can change your name to another person so that their government
will not claim this money.
Please you should get back to me with this contact
informations.
Your Full name
.....................
Your country and
city........................
Your home address
...........................
Your private phone
number.........................
Your age ........sex........ occupation
I will wait for your urgent
response
James
Knight.
usembassy.benin@msn.com
United States Ambassador to the Republic
of Benin
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Anti-fraud resources:
