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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found 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: Abdul Yakubu <abyakubu773@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: Abdul Yakubu <yakubu.abdul01@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 13:14:38 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Confirm at once...!!!
Dear Friend,
This message might meet you in utmost surprise, however, it's just myurgent need for a foreign partner that made me to contact you for thistransaction.A class mate of mine from your country gave me clues aboutyou/organization.
I am a board member and accountant by profession from Nigeria andcurrently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit .I have the opportunity of transferring the left over funds ($15.5million)from an over-invoiced contract that was awarded by the petroleumministry through the Nigerian National Petroleum corporation(NNPC) . Hence, I am inviting you for a business deal where by this money can beshared between us in the ratio of 60/40 . This amount is already in acoded account in a Bank. If you agree to my business proposal, further details of the transfer willbe forwarded to you as soon as I receive your return mail. have a greatday. BEST REGARDS YAKUBU ABDUL
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Anti-fraud resources:
