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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "transfer into your account" (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)
- "urgent assistance" (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: Mr Hassan Ali <roselynyasi@voila.fr>
Reply-To: mrhassanali446@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 07:22:44 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Salam Alaykum Urgent Reply
Salam Alaykum Urgent Reply
Dear
I know that this message will come to you as a surprise. I am the Auditing and Accounting section manager with Bank Burkina Faso. I Hope that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($2.5) million to your account within 10 or 14 banking days. you will have 40% of the above mentioned sum while 50% will be for me, and the other 10% will be for the expenses, the late deceased was a good costume to our bank and I am his personal accountant for years of which that is how I get his full information These are the details about the deceased and his family. Late Hassan El-madi used his late wife (MRS.HAJIA EL-MADI) as his next of kin but unfortunately,
she died along side with him in their car accident So, nobody knows about the account and as such, you should not be afraid in this deal. Just keep it as secret between us. if you can give me your capability and assurance that you will not seat on top of this money when is transfer into your account. please I will like to know from you if you can help?
Thank you
Mr Hassan Ali
Ouagadougou
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Anti-fraud resources:
