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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- georgeabufour@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: George Abufour <abufourg90@gmail.com>
Reply-To: georgeabufour@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 12:03:39 -1200
Subject: PLEASE YOU ATTENTION IS REQUIRED
*Dear Friend,I send this mail to you with due respect. George Abufour is my
name a banker with one of the commercial banks in Ghana. I want to confirm
if you can collect on our behalf the sum of $8.5 million in the bank. The
depositor is late now and the good news is the depositor bears the same
surname with you which makes it easy for you to claim this funds from the
bank. The depositor can not be traced for some years now by the
investigating committee I headed. If you can work with me in this business.
please do send your contact phone number for discussion on how to transfer
the money to your care and also to discuss on your commission. If accepted
get back to me without any delay with you full information. You can reach
me on georgeabufour@hotmail.com <georgeabufour@hotmail.com>Best
regardsGeorge Abufour*
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Anti-fraud resources:
