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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 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)
- "can i trust you?" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: captaindickrichard@aol.com
Reply-To: captaindickrichard@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 02:07:42 +0000
Subject: Can I Trust =?UTF-8?Q?You=3F?=
--
Hello!
My name is Captain Dickson Richard.
I got your reliable contact from your country’s Chamber of Commerce
Directory and further explicit investment information about your
country.
I am in the United Nations Engineering military camp unit here in
Afghanistan. Based on the United States legislative and executive
decision for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, I have been redeployed
to come and work on the platform of North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) soon.
I have the sum of $9.7 million dollars with which I made from crude oil
business here in Afghanistan. I need a good partner, God fearing and
reliable person who will receive this money for investment and safe
guard the gold. It is oil money and legal.
As I’m working for the government, I can’t keep these funds, but I want
to transfer or move the funds to you so that you can keep it for me in
your safe account or an offshore account.
The most important thing is that can I trust you?
If you are interested let me know so that I will give you more details.
Regards,
Captain Dickson Richard
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Anti-fraud resources:
