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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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Rasheed Bin Haji <mr-rasheedbinhaji@voila.fr>
Reply-To: mrrasheed-binhaji@voila.fr
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:45:44 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU IN THIS GREAT DEAL
Dear Friend,
How are you and your family? My name is Mr.Rasheed Bin Haji from Burkina-Faso.I am the Operations Manager of our bank.Due to trust for accountability,I made up my mind to contact you for a hitch free deal. During a re-documentation of old account files last two week for 2012 audition,I met an unclaimed balance of ($45 Million.) United State Dollars from intestate account of a foreign customer who died years ago without any living body to file claim and take over the account. If your are interested to share the deal with me, confirm your details for guidelines on how to actualize it.I expect your immediate reply.Regards,Mr.Rasheed Bin Haji
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Anti-fraud resources:
