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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Mohan Das <moha.dasm@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mohandas124@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:27:54 +0100
Subject: Top secret, please treat as urgent
Dear friend,
I am Mr Mohan Das a staff of Banque Internationale du Burkina Member
of United Bank for Africa (BIB/UBA) here in Burkina Faso / Ouagadougou
. In my department I discover an abandoned sum of (US$18.5 Million US
Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers
who died along with his family in a plane crash.
It is therefore upon this discovery that I have decided to make this
business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of
kin or relation to the deceased for the safety and subsequent
disbursement since nobody is coming for it.
I agree that 40% of this money will be for you, and 10% will be set
aside for expenses incurred during the business and 50% would be for
me. Then after the money is been transferred into your account, I
will visit your country for an investment under your kind guidance.
You have to contact my Bank directly as the real next of kin of this
deceased account with next of kin application form which I will send
to you immediately I hear from you.
I am waiting for your urgent response to enable us proceed further
with the transfer.
Yours faithfully
Mr Mohan Das
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Anti-fraud resources:
