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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: "MR. BEN BERNANKE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.benbernankeuk03@yahoo.es>
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:22:34 -0000
Subject: GOOD NEWS
ATTN: Esteemed Beneficiary,
This is officially to notify you that We have received a payment credit
instruction from the World Bank Swiss to credit your account with your
full Inheritance fund of US$4.5Million from the Nigerian reserve
account With our Bank because the are having problem with International
Monetary Fund (IMF). We the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has taken
up the mantle to advocate on your interest for the release of your fund
over delayed payment.
PLEASE READ THE MESSAGE ATTACHED FOR FULL DETAILS
Yours faithfully,
MR. BEN BERNANKE
Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty St New York
NY 10045-0001.
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Anti-fraud resources:
