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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:
- "million united states 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Petroleum Technology Development Fund" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <takongmail@qq.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 07:33:25 -0500
Subject: For your information
Hello,
I am Dr. Oluwole Oluleye. Immediate past Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)-Nigeria
I have been assigned by my coileagues to seek for your assistance as a partner in the transfer of the sum of US$30,000,000.00 dollars (thirty million united states
dollars).
At the moment this money is being safegaurding awaiting an approprate time when the money can be transfered into a safe foreign account for safe keeping pending our arrival
for sharring and utilization with the owner of the account. We feel the time is now as the new President have ordered that all funds and accounts reports owned and controlled by PTDF should be paid back immediately into government coffers. It is on the strenght of this order, we wish to take advantage of it to present you/your company as one of the contractors being owed by PTDF and the government.
Please let me know in your reply if we can work on this together now for our mutual benefits.
Thank you in advance for your quick reply.
Dr. Oluwole Oluleye.
Ex-Officio-Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)
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Anti-fraud resources:
