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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dave and Angela Dawes" <info@norma.net>
Reply-To: daveangeladawes@ovi.com
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 06:41:41 +0200
Subject: Attention !!!
This is a personal email directed to you. My wife and I won an Euro Millions
Jackpot Lottery of £101 million (Pounds) on October 11, 2011 and have
voluntarily decided to donate the sum of £1,000,000.00 Pounds to you as part
of our own charity project to improve the lot of 20 lucky individuals all
over the world.
If you have received this email then you are one of the lucky recipients and
all you have to do is get back to us and provide your full name, contact
address phone number, so that we can send your details to the payout bank.
You can verify this by visiting the web page below;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8820740/101m-lottery-
jackpot-winners-Dave-and-Angela-Dawes-to-give-millions-to-friends-and-
family.html
Your email address was submitted to my wife and me from the best web
directory and search engine by legal advisers to the donation scheme. You
received this message because we have listed you as one of our twenty lucky
millionaires.
If you receive this email on your office email address, you are advised to
reply with this message on your private email address for more details on how
to receive your cash grant.
Regards
Dave and Angela Dawes
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Anti-fraud resources:
