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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Yahala Ahmed" <info3@Tauners-Rasselbande.de>
Reply-To: <yahalaahmed03@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:48:10 -0700
Subject: Kindly Express your Interest
Dear Brother/Sister
How are you today I hope all is well with you and your family, my name is yahala ahmed former secretary to the President Federal Republic of Nigeria I was remove from the offfice on the 29th may after serving my 4years tenure.
The reason why I am sending you this email is because I need your assistance if you will be honest to me during my service in the office I saved $150,000,000 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION USD) without the knowledge of the federal government of Nigeria now I am no longer in office I want to transfer this fund to your country so that you can assist me invest the money over there. there is a lot of scam all over the world so I will like to know whom you are before I proceed
If you are interested please respond to my message immediately for more details your urgent response will be highly appreciated you can as well view the headline news all over when I handed over all document to the new secretary
Yahala ahmed
Former secretary to the President
Federal Rublic of Nigeria
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Anti-fraud resources:
