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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "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: "Mr.Lucio Neto" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lucioneto3312@e-mail.ua>
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2012 05:47:38 +0200
Subject: From Mr.Lucio Neto,
Dear Sir/Madam
I Am Mr.Lucio Neto senior staff with the central bank of Nigeria (CBN). I am writing you this letter because cool penny is better than millions of dollars.
It is better for one to live and die a poor honest man than a rich dishonest one. I have arranged with an officer in the computer section of this bank,Mrs Sheila Jones to bring out part of your total contract sum amounting to $5million us dollars.You should view the attachment for the full message and reply as quick as possible.
Its Attached because of the secrecy.
Thank you and God bless .
Mr.Lucio Neto
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Anti-fraud resources:
