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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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "David Ankor" <dvidankor@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dvidankor@mail.com
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 09:21:47 -0000
Subject: Can you handle this?
Dearest friend, Let start by explain who I am to you, my name is Barrister
David Ankor.
I am lawyer the to Mr Azizi Rifi a Syrian Citizen who died along with his
wife and kid during the Syrian war last three month before he died he made
a fixed deposit of two Million five hundred and seventy five thousand
united state dollars in a bank down here in Africa His son is the only
beneficially of this fund unfortunately he got killed during the chemical
weapon in Syria.
As Mr. Azizi business lawyer i have made an investigation and find out
that their is no next of kin attached to this fund. I have every details
of this fund in the bank all i seek now is a foreign partner whom i will
transfer the fund to his account, If you choose to stand as my deceased
client's next of kin, mail me back for more information. Thank you,
Regards
Bar.David Ankor
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Anti-fraud resources:
