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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found 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.
- saliuharuna2010@yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "DR. SALIU HARUNA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <saliuharuna2010@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 16:36:44 +0100
Subject: PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL (PLEASE READ)
Dear Friend,
My name is name is Dr. Saliu Haruna, a Libyan national and an investment consultant attached to the Libyan investment Authority (LIA). I started working for the my countries government since the beginning of 2000 and have arranged so many deals between the my government and the international partners but due to the ongoing crisis in the country I decided to quit my job because I am not in support of what our leader Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi due to his crack down on the opposition. There are some funds which I was directed to move to neighboring Ghana for further transfer to China for the purchase of arms to be used in the ongoing war in my country. The funds which I have succeeded in moving through a clandestine arrangement to a private finance company in Ghana is now deposited there waiting for my further instruction for onward transfer to china for the purchase of the arms and ammunitions from an arms manufacturing company in China but I now de
cided to leave the country with t
Please this is highly classified information therefore I advise that you keep it to yourself. I shall be willing to meet with you anywhere in Europe or possibly Africa but at the moment I am currently in my South Africa. Get back to me on this email saliuharuna2010@yahoo.co.jp if you are interested so that we can proceed. We will discuss the sharing ratio once I hear from you because you will play a vital role to the success of this business.
Regards
Dr. Saliu Ibrahim
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Anti-fraud resources:
