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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "lome togo" (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: Richard <rd.duru1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: rbello011@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:38:35 +0200
Subject: hello
Good day,
My name is Mr Richard Bello, I am a staff working with the Bank Of
Africa here in Lome Togo.I want you to help me in receiving the sum
of ($5.3 million USD) into your Bank Account. This fund was
deposited in the bank here by a foreign customer who died in the plane
crash in the year 2003 alongside with his entire family members many
years ago.
Nobody had asked for this fund till now If you are interested, you
have to provide an account where the fund will be remitted because i
am highly interested to secure this money from the Bank. Please you
can contact me immediately to start the transfer process. Further
details about the fund and this transaction will be given to you upon
the receipt of your response.
Please understand that we have to hurry-up our actions because the
bank authority here has plans to redeposit this fund into the treasury
of the Central Government as unclaimed fund if nobody applies for this
fund after the next bank audit which will begin here soon. I await
your urgent reply
(1)Full Name............
(2)Address...........
(3)Age............
(4)Phone.............
(5)Country................
(6)Occupation.............
(7)Sex..........
(8)Photo...........
Yours Sincerely,
Mr Richard Bello
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Anti-fraud resources:
