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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:
- "good day friend" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Andrew Ademola" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <a22nett@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 12:18:07 +0100
Subject: Re: Kindly respond back.
Good day Friend,
I am Mr. Andrew Ademola a lawyer and personal confidant to Khamis Gadhafi who was the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $10.5million to your account within 14 banking days from a bank in Benin Republic. This funds belongs to my Khamis Gadhafi and was deposited in the bank on another name to avoid suspecion and to avoid confiscation by the Libyan government as they quest the seizure of every related assets belonging to Late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi family. I am contacting you in a good faith so that the bank will release the money to you as the next of kin.
So if you are capable of receiving this funds,let me have a positive response from you via return mail for more personal discussions on how we are going to go about it.You should also include:
Your full name and address.
Your direct telephone number, age and profession.
Best.Regards,
Andrew Ademola
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Anti-fraud resources:
