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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- 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.
- ecobankcompensationbenin@yahoo.fr (Yahoo, France; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Emmanuel Jose" <davidkr626@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ecobankcompensationbenin@yahoo.fr
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 19:12:00 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Dear Sir/Madam,SCAM VICTIM COMPENSATION.
Dear Sir/Madam The Federal Government has allocated $100.000 each for every scam victims for monetary loss and damages. The compensation funds were deposited at ECO BANK LIMITED by the Federal Government of Benin Republic in care of Benin Ministry of Foreign Affairs to compensate every scam victims and the transfer will be handled by ECO BANK LIMITED BENIN as instructed by the Federal Government of Benin Republic so you do not need to pay any transfer fee and the funds have also been insured to avoid unnecessary deductions. If truly you have been scammed you are required to send your NAME and ADDRESS to ECO BANK LIMITED for verification and after verification if truly you have sent money to Benin Republic in the course of getting those huge funds they are promising you that means you have been scammed because you will surely not get them. Send your NAME and ADDRESS for verification to email addresses listed below set up by ECO BANK BENIN
REPUBLIC) for this compensation purpose only:Email1: ecobankcompensationbenin@yahoo.fr Please do not respond to email which asks you to send your username and password for any reason and also take note that we have never held any scam victims compensation program in Benin Republic. This is the First-Of-Its-Kind. Do not be deceived! Yours sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Jose
(Public Relations Officer)
Oversea Communication Department
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),Benin Republic.
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Anti-fraud resources:
