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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:
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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: "Barclays Bank PLC." <larryjohnson2009@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: infobarclaysbtranssdeptbank@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 18:48:29 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Barclays Bank PLC.
Barclays Bank PLC.
200 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10166
United States
Dear Valued Customer
Your Barclays Bank Account has been set up in your Name. Your (US$10,00,000.00) Ten Million United states dollars only
.............................................................................................................................
You can access your Escrow account via Telephone Banking system using below directives
............................................................................................................
This is to inform you that your outstanding payment has been approved to be credited into your account through a telephone/banking to enable you have access to your fund.After confirmation, make sure you get back to us.Also you are expected to forward your informations as soon as possible.
Make sure you follow up all step directives.You are expected to forward your bank detial immediately to process your fund.
Please safe your account data's for security reasons. Once you have confirm the amount inside your escrow account with Barclays bank, call us for more discussion on how to proceed on transferring to your personal Bank account.
Treat this message with utmost urgency.
Barclays Bank PLC
Patrick Jones
Chief financial officer
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Anti-fraud resources:
