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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:
- ",500,000" (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)
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Frank Kone <frank_konea@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: Frank Kone <frank_konee@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 15:36:54 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Hello Friend
Hello Friend,
Â
My name is Mr. Frank Kone from Cote d’Ivoire; I am a banker by profession. I have a confidential issue that I would like to discuss with you. In the year 2011 one of our bank customers was killed during the civil war here including his entire family was wiped out by the military army that supported the formal president.
The deceased customer was a citizen of France and he worked as an expatriate well Engineer with SHELL Petroleum Company. Since then nobody have come to claim the sum of $29,500,000 Million USD he deposited in our bank. I found out that the account file has overstayed in dormancy.
It is based on these that I contact you since you are a foreigner, I want you to stand as the deceased family next of kin/beneficiary to claim the funds for our benefit before this fund get confiscated by the bank. I have here with me the necessary legal paper documents that can be used to claim this fund.
All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal come through. You are going to retain 45% percentage once the fund is transferred to your account. I look forward to your urgent reply include your direct phone number for further discussion.
Â
Your Friend,
Â
Mr. Frank Kone.
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Anti-fraud resources:
