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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:
- "huge sum of money" (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)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "abuja" (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: "Dr. Philip Danjuma" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <philipdanjumadr@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 16:23:09 +0400
Subject: GOOD DAY
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Project and Planning Department Abuja Nigeria Good Day I am Dr. Philip Danjuma a director in the project and planning department of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, I head a seven man Tenders Board Committee in charge of contract award and Payment approvals. I came to know of you in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account. There were series of contracts executed by a consortium of Multinationals in the oil industry in favor of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) among which were; 1) The expansion of 865 kilometer cross border pipeline to NNPC largest operational site in Secunda, South Africa for US$1,2 billion Mozambique Natural Gas Project. 2) Contract for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of various Refineries in the country. 3) The procurement of Tanker vessels for Petroleum Product (Depots)-US$194 Million. The origin
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Anti-fraud resources:
