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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found 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: "BANK OF AMERICA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nationallawenforcementagency@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2012 04:05:03 +0200
Subject: NOTIFICATION OF CREDIT FROM BANK OF AMERICA.
BANK OF AMERICA
TEL/FAX:267 248 3381
423 East Girard Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19148
FROM THE DESK OF THOMAS.C. WOODWARD
NOTIFICATION OF CREDIT FROM BANK OF AMERICA.
Attn: Category A Beneficiary
We have this Month of Nov 2012 received a payment credit instruction from the western African foreign Payment Council to credit your account with your full Inheritance fund from the west african reserve account with our bank, Bank of America. However, you shall be required to provide the followings data’s below:
{1}. Your Full Name and Address.
{2}. Your Confidential Tel, Cell and Fax.
{3). Your Bank name and address.
{4). Your A/c Name and A/c Numbers.:
(5). Your Swift Code / Routing Numbers.
(6)Any form of Identification.
Please do provide the above information accurately, because this office cannot afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds or liability of funds credited into a ghost account.
You will be given an online account which will be opened for you in our bank to enable you make transfer from your online account to any other account of your choice anywhere in the world.
We wait to received the requested informations to enable us give you further briefings on hoz to open the online domicillary account.
Thanks for banking with Bank of America while we looking forward to serving you with the best of our service.
Thanks and God bless you.
Regards,
Mr. Thomas Woodward
A/C officer B O A (P.A Branch).
Bank of America.
Philadelphi Pensylvania
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Anti-fraud resources:
