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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: "BANK OF AMERICA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <murphygray01@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:17:55 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS:PROCEED AND CONFIRM YOUR TRANSFER
I still have not heard from you for a while which is not good for this transfer.I want you to know that you are the person holding this transfer and if really you want this transfer to be completed then you would comply with the directives and we will conclude this transfer.This transfer could have been concluded long ago if not for the delay.Yes i understand things might be hard financially but at least you can give this a chance.I only need you to give this a chance and behold within 24 hours this transfer will be concluded without doubt.
The bank (Bank of America) have protected your account and at this stage your transfer is done.Just to make you be sure of the transfer,i have included the Bank Transfer slip where you would see your fund and account balance to confirm to you that you are the one delaying this transaction.
Note: You are not expected to spend a dime on this transfer for any reason as everything have been taken care of.All i need from you is to open the attachment and then confirm to this office that the information on the file is yours
God Bless You and your family.
Murphy Gray
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Anti-fraud resources:
