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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "confidential business" (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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Mzongo komi <mrzongokomi1@laposte.net>
Reply-To: Mr Mzongo komi <mrzongokomi1@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2016 21:26:00 +0900 (JST)
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF MR. KOMI ZONGO.
FROM THE DESK OF
MR. KOMI ZONGO.
Â
Â
                     Â
Confidential Business Proposal!!
Â
My name is Mr KOMI ZONGO the manager
of Auditing and Account Department in Bank OuagadougouBurkina Faso
. I Hope that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am
about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.
Â
I need your urgent assistance in
transferring the sum of ($25.5) million to your account within 11 or 15 banking
days. This Money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim. I want
the Bank to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased
Customer (the owner of the account) died along with his supposed next Of kin in
an air crash since July 2003.I don’t want the money to go into our Bank
treasurer as an abandoned Fund. So this is the reason why I contacted you so
that the bank can Release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased
customer.( Mr. Morris Thompson) Please I would like you to keep This proposal
as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.
Â
Here is the sharing ratio; you will
get 50% as your share, while I get 50% for me. If you can help me, please
contact me immediately with the required
Â
Information listed below:
Â
Your Full
Names......................... ......
Phone Number
.............................. ...
Your
sex....................................
Age...........................
................
Occupation....................
................
Country ................
Â
Yours
Faithfully,
Mr KOMI ZONGO
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Anti-fraud resources:
