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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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)
- "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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr.Kazmi Sma" <drkazmisma@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "Dr.Kazmi Sma" <drkazmisma22@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2013 10:19:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Good day...!!
Dear Friend,
I am Dr.Kazmi Sma, Auditor Bank Director. I have a business transaction for you.In my department i discovered an abandoned sum of ($10.7 Million US Dollars). In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his family. Since his supposed next of kin died along side with him, there is nobody to claim the left over balance in the account. It is therefore upon this discovery that I decided to seek your assistance and present you to the bank as his business associate to claim the funds.
If you accept i would give you the guide lines of how we can achieve this transfer of the balance (10.7Million Dollars) to your account. and we will share the money 50-50%.when it get to your account, I hope you will not let me down when the funds goes into your account?. Please give me your Full Name../ Celphone number../ Country../ for more details.
Best Regards
Dr.Kazmi Sma.
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Anti-fraud resources:
