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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "foreign remittance department" (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)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned 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: rolandetakor@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 12:33:44 +0100
Subject: Your MasterCard Debit Card is Ready in Our Payment Centre
CENTRAL BANK NIGERIA
TINUBU SQUARE , VICTORIA ISLAND- LAGOS NIGERIA
OFFICE OF FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
>From The Desk Of:Mr.Roland Etakor
Attention: Distinguished Beneficiary,
This is to officially inform you that (ATM Card/ DEBIT Card
Number of;
5061050258799644527) has been credited in your favour, Your
Personal
Identification Number is 385. The Card Value is ($7.5M USD)
and your
ATM CARD will be send to you through DHL delivering company.
You are advice to contact me back on my email so that I will
forward
it to your Bank for delivering of your card; all the legal
documents
are out and will be sending to you once I hear from you.
With the following information;
Full Name: ------------------
Phone Number: ------------
Country: ----------------------
Occupation: ------------------
Sex: --------------------------
Age: ---------------------------
Bank will send your ATM CARD through DHL delivering company,
so get
back to me with your full information's before it will be
late.
Thanks
Mr.Roland Etakor
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Anti-fraud resources:
