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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:
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Henry Uba" <henry_uba@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: henry_ubaa1@yahoo.com.ph
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:34:57 +0400 (MSK)
Subject: Attn: Sir,
Attn: Sir,
I am an auditor with central bank of Nigeria C.B.N. I discovered an
unclaimed sum of fund $7.5m million (seven million five hundred thousand
Dollars) that belong to you.
I am contacting you in respect to help you to receive this your money.
This money has been unclaimed for quite some time now as such i deem it
fit contacting you.
I will help you to arrange with the board of Directors of bank so that an
agent to deliver it to your home address, without bank account. All you
have to do is send all this to me. After you have receive your fund you
will give me 10% of the total sum.
(a) Your full Names
(b) Your physical mailing address
(c) Your direct telephone numbers
(d) Your occupation.
Mr Henry Uba
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Anti-fraud resources:
