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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:
- "dormant account" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Daniel Major." <dan_major3@jujuy.gov.ar>
Reply-To: <dan_major3@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 07:16:33 -0700
Subject: YOUR QUICK RESPONSE
--
Attn: Beneficiary,
I am contacting you regarding the mandate given to us to vet and
recommend
the outstanding funds amounting $10.5 million left in dormant account
holder AC/724518690 ZX with Central Bank of Nigeria which you are among
the
beneficiary.
The reasons of this mandate is to make sure that the money mapped out
by
the United Nation and the Organization of African Union government are
used
to pay off the victims of frauds of any kind as to make sure the
Nigerian
government has good record of the complains made against it is cleared
without delay, with the Senate ad-hoc committee and the EFCC against
corruptions in Nigerian government for the past 15 years which the
previous
regime neglected.
You are advised to furnish your current account information, contact
address and direct telephone numbers to make sure your new data is been
uploaded for urgent recommendation on how you are to receive this money
from the Central Bank of Nigeria. This mandate will last for few weeks
because of the short time approved to all fraud victims of any level in
America, Europe, Asia and Africa by West African country which Nigerian
citizens are prime actors.
Thank you.
Yours very truly,
Dr. Daniel Major.
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Anti-fraud resources:
