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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- 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.
- mrzaidibrahim@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "MR Zaid Ibrahim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrzaidibrahim@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 14:14:15 -0700
Subject: DO NOT IGNORE THIS PLEASE!!
From: Mr. Zaid Ibrahim
Bank Negara Branch
Damansara
Office: Level 19 Menara Millennium.
Jalan Damanlela Damansara
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
HELLO DEAR,
My name is MR Zaid Ibrahim; I am the external auditor of a Bank Negara branch here in Malaysia. I have taken pains to find your contact through my online research, I discovered a nun accounted sum of $25.000.000.USD (Twenty Five Million Dollar).In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer without a beneficiary which is soon to be confiscated by government as an unclaimed fund.
There are many accounts of such in our record and the bank is urging people to make inquiries in regards to being some of the intended next of kin. See below for the full story
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/rm4b-in-unclaimed-monies/
with my position as the auditor of my branch, I can register your information's as one of the next of kin to the fund and back you up with every necessary documents needed for the claim and we will shear the fund on to be agreed ratio. If interested, Send me the below information.
(1) Age.
(2) Full Names
(3) Residential Address
(4) Occupation
(5) Private Telephone for more details
Thank for your anticipated co-operation
Best Regards.
Mr. Zaid Ibrahim
External Auditor.
Email: mrzaidibrahim@hotmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
