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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:
- "affidavit " (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Deepwater Financial Inc." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <deepwater1101@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2015 11:58:12 +0200
Subject: Did you give permission?
Hello,
Please sincerely let us know if you are the person who told one Mr. David Smith of Orlando Florida USA to submit an affidavit he obtained from the court here to authorize West Africa Banking Union pay your $560,000 inheritance money to him.
We are a consultant to the bank and have told him to wait until we get clarification from you. What do we do right now?.
Do we wire the money to the account he has submitted or you will still need the money.
Everything is now put on hold till we hear from you. If you don't reply within seven working days, it then means the statement is true and we will go ahead and pay him the money.
Waiting for your reply.
John Hope
Head of Debt Reconcillation
Deep water Consultancy
Cotonou-Benin
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Anti-fraud resources:
