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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 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)
- "international remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: MR KABIRU KONE <aminatakodjo@gmail.com>
Reply-To: kwezsi2@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2015 18:45:20 +0100
Subject: HELP TO TRANSFER FUNDS,
--
My name is Mr Kabiru Kone from Ivory Coast.I work in one of the prime
banks here in the international remittance department here in the
capital city Abidjan.I am soliciting your help for the transfer of the
total of USD 4.5 Million Dollars from our bank belonging to a dead
customer from Saudi Arabia who died here in a car crash in 2009.
The bank account of the man has been dormant and from my personal
investigation the wife and only child of the man does not know
anything about the money.What I want you to do now is to stand as an
appointed beneficiary to the fund so that with my help and
instructions it will be processed and transferred to your bank account
in your country.I will offer you 20% of the fund as soon as it is
transferred and confirmed in your bank account.
I will travel to meet with you 48 hours after the fund is confirmed in
your bank account in your country. This transaction is confidential
and should be kept between you and me until we have finalized.
What you have to do now is to send the following personal details so
that I will feed you with more details on how to proceed without any
delay.
You have to send¨.
1 Your full name
2 Your address
3 Your direct tel number
I am waiting for your email reply as soon as possible.
Mr Kabiru Kone
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Anti-fraud resources:
