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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:
- "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: "Mr Johnson Kofi"<koleska@redcross.org.mk>
Reply-To: jhnsnkf@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2016 03:50:24 +0200
Subject: I Solicit For Your Assistance
First I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, this is by virtue=
of it's nature as being utterly Confidential and top secret. Though I know=
that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and wo=
rried, but I am assuring you that this is real and genuine. =
My name is Mr. Johnson kofi. I am the manager of the international commerc=
ial bank Ghana, first light branch.
I solicit your assistance in the transfer of TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOU=
SAND US DOLLARS excess of what my branch in which I am the manager made as =
profit during the last year. I have already submitted an approved end of th=
e year report for the past to my head office and they will never know of th=
is excess. =
As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money th=
us I am impelled to request for your assistance to receive this money into =
your bank account. =
I intend to part 30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me. I do ne=
ed to stress that there are practically no risk involved in this. It's goin=
g to be a bank-to-bank transfer. All I need from you is to stand as the ori=
ginal depositor of this fund. =
=
If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response. =
=
With Regards, =
Mr. Johnson Kofi
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Anti-fraud resources:
