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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned 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. Ariko David" <arikoodavid0@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:36:53 +0100 (BST)
Subject: From Mr. Ariko David.
My Dearest Friend.
Greetings to you; I know that this message will
come to you as a surprise since we never met before but you don't need
to worry. I am Mr. Ariko David a politician from Ivory Coast the purpose of
contacting is to know if I can trust you to be my partner and reliable
person to champion this business of such magnitude without any problem.
I
have these funds (€14.000 000.00 Million Euro) deposit with a reliable
bank in Abidjan Cote D' Ivoire here, which I would like to invest in an offshore
project such as oil and gas/real estate or any lucrative business.
Please
note: this is my first time of being involved in offshore investment,
so my attorney shall be handling the entire transaction on my behalf.
If
you can make yourself available, please notify me through my email to
enable us work out modalities on this subject hence you should note that
a binding agreement must be endorsed prior to eventual transfer of the
funds to you for investment. I look forward to your response on this
email and thanks for your understanding.
I will be waiting for your response.
Â
Best regards
Mr. Ariko David.
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Anti-fraud resources:
