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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:
- "i want to solicit your attention" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Sayed" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sayedsay01@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 15:15:49 +0700
Subject: FROM SAYED
Attn:
I am an Aid to late Muammar Gaddafi's Intelligence Chief, Abdullah Al-Senussi who is in detention
after he was arrested at Nouakchott airport Mauritania. The Libyan prosecutor general has sent an
extradition request to the Mauritanian government through Interpol for him to return home for fair trial
in Libya.
As regards to this, he has asked me to move some of his funds to an offshore account hence
my contact with you. I want to solicit your attention to receive funds on his behalf considering your
experience in implementing corporate solution and vast years of business intelligence and because
my status would not permit me to do this alone putting into consideration the currents events in Libya.
If you are interested to help us on this transaction, be aware that you will be well compensated.
Let me know if you can help us so I can discuss among other things the security and procedures to
move the fund to you as soon as possible.
Awaiting your reply
Thanks
Sayed
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Anti-fraud resources:
