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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 us 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)
- ",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)
- "your commision" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Raphael Kimara <kimaraphael@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Raphael Kimara <raphaelkam22@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2015 03:50:05 +0900 (JST)
Subject: FROM RAPHAEL
Att: Email
FROM RAPHAEL
Permit me to inform you of my
desire of entering into business relationship with you.I am Mr. Raphael
Vincent a son to Engr K.Vincent, please urgent response is indeed
needed from you to confirm the receipt of this email for more details
and clarification. Our late father planned to invest in eurozone before
he died as a result of illed years back. Note that I am contacting you
in respect of my late unclaimed fund ($15,000,000 .00USD)FIFTEEN MILLION
US DOLLARS which he deposited in one of foreign banks before his
unexpected death. For this offer am ready to offer you 20% as your
commision of your assistance if your willing to help me
please i
don't no how to explain that through email here for security reason of
what happen in the world today but i will be very happy if you contact
me back for more
details
Regards,
Raphael
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Anti-fraud resources:
