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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mrs Lorna Hill <lorna20204@yandex.com>
Reply-To: lornahill20204@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2016 09:58:44 +0100
Subject: Dear Sir/Madam
Dear Sir/Madam
Thank you for contacting me but before i tell you about my proposed deal
i will like to tell you about myself. My name is Mrs Lorna Hill . I am a
senior staff and an Int'l Purchasing Manager with Exxon Mobil, South
America. I and my colleague over-invoiced a contract to the tune of
US$94M.
All arrangements have been concluded with the paying bank on how to
transfer the funds out to a safe foreign account since the original
contractor has just been paid his contract payment of US$11.Billion. As
civil servants, we are not allowed to operate foreign accounts and we
need a kind person to work with for the immediate Claims.
Please, should you be willing to assist, the paying bank is already
awaiting your interest to execute the transfer within 4-working days.
There is no risk involved.
Please treat with utmost confidentiality.
Best Regard
Mrs Lorna Hill
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Anti-fraud resources:
