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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "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: "Mr. Bill O. ATU" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cllapointe@outlook.com>
Date: Sun, 29 May 2016 09:39:08 -0700
Subject: -USE THE FUNDS FOR CHARITY WORKS-
Dear Friend,
I know you will be very surprised when reading this mail as we have never had any previous acquaintance but I want you to know that I got your contact from a reliable source ( business journal) and I decided to get in touch to let you know of my good intent of making this contact with you. I am Mr. Bill O. ATU, the ACCT. GEN. / AUD. GEN. INT'L REM. DIR. of United Bank For Africa UBA, Cotonou in Republic of Benin. A late Politician and a big customer of our bank who died couple of years ago left the sum of US$58,000,000.00 [ FIFTY EIGHT MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS] in his fixed deposit account of which am his account officer. He died along side with his next of kin.
Now the time fixed deposit have expired and the management of our bank is sending me notice to contact the next of kin to claim the funds or the account will be confiscated within the next two weeks as non fiduciary floating funds without beneficiary. By the virtue of my occupation am unable to let the funds be confiscated by these villainous government functionaries. This is why I contacted you to make you the beneficiary of these funds so that we can share it among ourselves at the ratio of 65% for and 35% for you..
I will make you the rightful beneficiary of the funds so the bank can transfer the funds into your bank account. Please I need you to send me the following if you are interested:
Your Name..........................................................................
Your Address ......................................................................
Contact Phone number........................................................
Occupation................................................Profession...............................................
Country of origin.........................................Ethnicity..................................................
Country of residence...........................................................
Age......................................................................................
Sex.......................................................................................
This will enable me to procure the LETTER OF FUNDS TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION from the Ministry of Justice in your name and have the funds moved to Europe through the diplomatic channel. Be rest assured that this transaction is 100% legal.
Upon securing these funds into your bank account, 65% will be wired into my private account and you keep 30% for yourself while extra 5% will be be added to you for your financial input during the course of bringing this transaction to a successful end.Yours Faithfully
Rev. Bill O. ATU
ACCT. GEN. / AUD. GEN. INT'L REM. DIR.
UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA UBA.
COTONOU-REPUBLIQUE DU BENIN.
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