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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)
- "huge sum of money" (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)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Erik Olgar Carlson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <erikolgarcarlso@zoho.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2016 20:32:57 -0000
Subject: Dear friend, Urgent Reply Is Needed,
Dear friend,
I am Mr Erik Olgar Carlson, a Senior staff in the audit and accounts management section with one of the prime banks here in this country. A dormant account has been discovered with huge sum of money has been abandoned in my bank since 2008 without claim or indication of ownership.Why I contacted you is that I want to present you to my bank as the beneficiary of the deceased account hence no one is coming to claim the fund and he has no next of kin indicated in his file.
Best Wishes,
Mr. Erik Olgar Carlson
erikolgarcarlso@zoho.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
