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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Hon. Faruq Abbas" <faruq-abbas@9.cn>
Reply-To: faruq_abbas@9.cn
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 08:02:25 +0100 (BST)
Subject: CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS?
Dear,
With the present unfavorable situation in Libya and coupled with the death of my boss Khamis Gadhafi who was just killed recently in an airstrike by NATO, I want you to know that though it is sad but this situation has created an opportunity that needs to be taken seriously and urgently. I am Hon. Faruq Abbas, the confidential personal assistance to late Khamis Gadhafi I have taken refuge in an undisclosed location due to the intentions of the anti-gadhafi forces and the Libyan National Transitional Committee(NTC) to arrest people that are connected to the Gadhafi's family and government. To be precise, I need your urgent sincere assistance to claim and transfer the sum of $14.5Million that was deposited recently by my boss Khamis Gadhafi in the Banques Internationale au Burkina (BIB) to your country or anywhere for safe-keeping. I want you to contact this bank as Khamis Gadhafi's business associate and a signatory to the account where the fund is
deposited so that you can put a claim on this fund before the International community and the NTC returns this fund back to Libya. I want you to be assured of the success of this transaction and there is nothing to be afraid of because you shall be guided accurately so as to achieve the transfer of the fund to your nominated account either in your country or elsewhere. Please note that the sharing of this fund will be done amicably and satisfactorily after the fund must have being transferred into your account.
Yours sincerely
Hon. Faruq Abbas
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Anti-fraud resources:
