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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)
- "million dollars" (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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Philip Smart <philipsmarthholding456@gmail.com>
Reply-To: philipsmart444@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 12:22:45 -0700
Subject: URGENT REPLY NEEDED FROM YOU
Dear Friend,
I came across your identity and contact in my desperate quest to
successfully locate the next of kin to an account file forwarded to my
desk for liquidation. I am Philip Smart, I work with the legal
department of a local financial institution. My job here is to see
that any unclaimed account is certified and confirmed UNCLAIMED before
final liquidation instruction is passed on any such account file.
With the above explanation of my responsibility in carrying out my
duty, it became very important that I make contact with you because an
account currently valued at USD 35 Million (thirty five million
dollars) was forwarded to my office for final search of next of kin to
the deceased account holder file, the account in question was last
operated in April 2010 and by law is due for liquidation.
I have tried to locate the next of kin to this account all to no
avail. In my quest to locate such person, I came across your identity.
Coincidentally you bear similarity with the identity of account holder
and this is the major reason why I have contacted you. I have been
mandated to certify the next of kin to this account before the
liquidation within thirty official working days.
Therefore I seize this opportunity to make a confidential proposal to
you as follows: -
We both work together on this file; I will use my official capacity to
front you as the next of kin to this account file. All files relating
to this account will be amended to suit this claim as soon as you have
agreed work with me.
I also want to guarantee you that this will be executed under a
legitimate framework that will protect you from any breach of the Law
here and in your country. I will await your positive response to this
mail as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Philip Smart.
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