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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 united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <steventaylorholly@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:15:24 -0800
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE
Good Day.
I hope this mail get's to you in good faith?
Before proceeding, I wish to introduce myself to you; I am Steven Taylor Holly a staff of United Bank for Africa Ghana. I hold a strategic position in the accounts/foreign exchange department. I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable business proposal which I believe will profit us after completion. I contacted you believing you might be capable of handling this business transaction. The sum of (Ten Million United State Dollars), has been floating as unclaimed since year 2000 in our bank as all efforts to get across to the relatives of our client who deposited the money yielded no result.
All attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. My position here at my office requires me to investigate and I therefore made further investigations and discovered that Mr. Kok Hong Cheng did not declare any next of kin or relation in all his official documents, including his bank deposit paperwork in our bank.
I have decided to seek your assistance to have you stand as his next of kin so that the said fund (Ten Million United State Dollars) can be released in your name as the next of kin and paid into your account. All documents and proof that will have you claim this fund without stress will be forwarded to you upon your response to this mail, i have unanimously agreed to offer you 30% of the total sum for the assistance and role you are going to play in this transaction, 10% will be given to charity organizations in your country with your supervision.
Kindly filling the below information's if agreed with my offer:
Full Names:
Address:
Country:
Occupation:
Sex:
Marital Status:
Telephone Number:
Fax Number:
Age:
I shall be waiting to hear from you to enable me proceed on the next step on the transaction.
Regards
Steven Taylor Holly
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