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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:
- "is highly confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Aafiya" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <aafiya1@bk.ru>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2015 14:35:58 -0400
Subject: Capital Investment/partnership
Hello, the contents of this letter is highly confidential.
I am Aafiya, I am presently on exile from my country due to recent political crisis.
I was a Director of the Ministry of Petroleum and during my tenure I made substantial money
from a number of deals.
I have converted most of my assets into funds which I intend to re-invest through
a reliable investor. I solicit your acceptance to receive the funds for investment on my behalf,
we would draft an MOU to seal the deal. However I prefer to remain a silent
partner/investor as I do not want to be directly involved in the day-to-day
running of the investment. I will choose a representative as our communication progresses .
Treat this information as a top secret.
Awaiting your response.
Sincerely,
Aafiya
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Anti-fraud resources:
