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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:
- "million 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "foreign payment department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "nigeria national petroleum corporation" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "mrgeorge.william001@ymail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR GEORGE WILLIAMS." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrgeorge.william01@ymail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 06:16:28 +0300
Subject: ATTN:BENEFICIARRY.
ATTN:BENEFICIARRY.
MY NAME IS .MR GEORGE WILLIAMS. CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENT DEPARTMENT WITH THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA.
THE REASON WHY YOU ARE CONTACTED IS TO LET YOU KNOW THAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS INDEBTED TO YOUR RELATIVE WHO WAS ONCE A CONTRACTOR WITH NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION BEFORE HE DIED AND HE WAS OWED THE SUM OF US$25,000,000.00 TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS AND THE AMOUNT IS WAITING TO BE CLAIMED TILL DATE.
WE WILL LIKE YOU TO COME FORWARD AS HIS NEXT OF KIN SO THAT THE AMOUNT WILL BE PAID TO YOU AS THE NEXT OF KIN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN SEND ME YOUR DETAILS AS LISTED BELOW THIS MESSAGE.
KINDLY FORWARD YOUR FULL DETAILS TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS OR CALL THE PHONE NUMBER
EMAIL: mrgeorge.william001@ymail.com
PHONE: +234 817 4335 676
1 FULL ANME………………………
2 HOME ADDRESS………………..
3 AGE…………………………………….
4 OCCUPATION…………………………..
5 SEX………………………………………………..
6 STATUS…………………………………………
7 PHONE/CELL……………………………………
8 A COPY OF YOUR ID………………………………
9 YOUR BANK INFORMATION ............
AS SOON AS I RECEIVE ALL THESE DETAILS I WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS REGARDS TO THE DOCUMENTS THAT WILL ENABLE THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA RELEASE OR TRANSFER THE FUND INTO YOUR PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT IN YOUR COUNTRY.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
MR GEORGE WILLIAMS.
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