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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)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- "foreign payment department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- maxwell_adamms@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: KAMA VIOLA <vkcbndesk@gmail.com>
Reply-To: cenbkliveml@live.com
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 02:11:51 +0100
Subject: THIS MAIL IS NOT JUNK IN CASE IS IN SPAM (SHARE THIS OPPORTUNITY WITH ME)
SHARE THIS OPPORTUNITY WITH ME
Re: Claim of My Partner Investment Company Fund Account / Deposit Number :
726J26549
Attn: Dear friend,
My Name is Mr. Maxwell D. Adams, I am an auditor and deputy head of
computing department of a bank here in United Kingdom. There is an account
opened in this bank in 2004 and after our third quarter auditing at the
bank January 2011, I found this account has been dormant and when
investigated deeply by contacting the assigned next of kin I also found
that the next of kin to this account was an Indonesian who lived in London
for over 45Yrs and was involved in Tsunami tragedy in Indonesia and nobody
has operated on this account again.
I took the courage to look for a reliable and honest person who can liase
with me move out the fund out for our mutual benefits because I discovered
that if I do not Remit this money out urgently,it will be forfeited for
nothing and the bank management might divert the funds to their own
accounts.
Please respond immediately and I will use my position and influence to
effect the release, approval and onward transfer of this fund into your
account with appropriate clearance from foreign payment department. You
will stand to get 50% while 50% will be for me. Kindly quote the reference
(acct) numbers above when responding to this mail. I will clearly give you
full details upon your reply and give you my mobile to reach me for
explicit discussion. Please reply through my personal E-mail:
maxwell_adamms@hotmail.com
Sincerely yours,
Mr. Maxwell D. Adams
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Anti-fraud resources:
