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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:
- ",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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- fosterharrison56@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Foster Harrison" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fosterharrison56@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2015 03:01:56 +0200
Subject: Oil Deal Proposal
Dear Sir,
My warm greetings to you. I head the Procurement Unit of a South East
Asia Country’s Government owned oil refining company. My company is
keen on buying crude oil from Libya up to 2,000,000 barrels monthly
for 12 months. And I have been given the mandate to make this happen.
I am trying to build a middle man structure to come in between both
parties prior to signing of the contract. This is why I am contacting
you.
Your question I am sure would be "why can't you do it yourself "? The
truth is that it is against my company’s operational ethics for an
employee to profiteer from business dealings with the company. I need
to work with someone I can trust and who is outside of my personal
circle in order for my participation to be kept discreet. So my offer
to you is that we work as a team to build a middle man structure with
you as the face of the Partnership and me working from the back
scene. The commission /brokerage to be earned by the middle man are
between $7-$6 per barrel from every barrel of crude we sell. The
target is 2M barrels monthly sales. This translates to between $12M
to $14 M monthly revenue and this will span for a period of 12 months.
I have very serious contacts within oil producing country's top
echelon for award of crude oil export /lifting licenses to any company
I present for this venture. This venture I tell you is a leaping stone
to us becoming a renowned player in the global oil industry. I will
provide full details only after receiving your response.
Please write back to me through my personal email address ( fosterharrison56@hotmail.com )
Regards
Thank you,
Mr.Foster Harrison.
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