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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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: Paul Kofi <mr_paulkofi@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2016 14:51:29 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: REPLY URGENT
Dear Goodfriend,I am contacting you knowing fully well that you are not going to expose this deal to another person as it requires a top secret between only us involve in the business.
I am Mr Paul Butego a family lawyer to the late President of Libya Col Mamman Gadafi.
I am the lawyer who assisted the family in transferring their funds to various banks in the world for safety of this money but you can see the United Nation's have discovered and confiscated most of this accounts.
Recently a bank has written me requesting that i bring a foreign account where the sum of us$45m  can be transfer to avoid the United Nation from seizing this money.
I am therefore asking you to help me while i present you as a contractor that owns this money.
You are to send me your full names and address ,your bank account details with your private telephones where we discuss about the transfer until you receive this funds in your bank account.
I will give you 30% of this money after the successful transfer to your bank account and you are also to help me invest part of the money in any good business in your country.
Expecting your honest comply.ThanksPaul Kofi
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Anti-fraud resources:
