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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Richard Traore <richardtraorea@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: richardtraore1@hotmail.fr
Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 19:49:32 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: REPLY ASAP.
From Richard Traore
Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso.
Dear Friend,
Good day to you. I am Richard Traore a lawyer and personal confidant to Abdullah Senussi who was the intelligence chief of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($39.5) million to your account within 14 working days from a financial institution in Burkina Faso. This money belongs to my master Abdullah Senussi and was deposited in the bank on the name of his son. I am contacting you in a good faith so that the bank will release the money to you for safe keeping/investments till the release of my master who is now in custody.
I am expecting your urgent response to enable me detail you on how we are going to go about it.
Best regards,
Richard Traore.
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Anti-fraud resources:
