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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: JOHN BANNERMAN <kuformensah88@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johnbannerman25@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2012 09:29:29 +0000
Subject: MY OFFER
--
Dear Prospective Partner,
I am representing a Group of Three (3) Top Government Officials that Heads
the most sensitive Office in the Government of Republic of Ghana. This
Group is interested in Overseas Investments in your Country and at the same
time to stand as a Trustee/Investor for possible evacuation of the Sum of
US$120million which has been acquired directly or indirectly using their
various positions in the Government.
The Civil Service Regulations Acts of 2001 prohibits Serving Government
Officials from getting involved in Private Businesses or operation of
Foreign Accounts without Public Declaration of Source and Origin of the
acquired Funds to the Government of Ghana. Therefore we seek your genuine
assistance to Partner with us for immediate evacuation of the
aforementioned funds without delay. You shall retain 25% of the total sum
as stated herein only if you are interested to work with us. This is 100%
risk free without any legal implication.
Yours Truly,
John Bannerman
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Anti-fraud resources:
