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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:
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge deposit" (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)
- "million 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)
- "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: "Brandie K. North" <admin22@gmail.com>
Reply-To: brandie.northrep567@gmail.com
Date: 20 Aug 2016 09:49:09 +0100
Subject: Important Information (Reply ASAP).
Hello,
THIS IS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
I am a customer representative officer in my Bank and account
manager to a deceased customer who was a contractor with a
prominent oil company in Texas. On the 21st of April 2010, our
customer, his wife and their two children were involved in auto-
crash. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their
lives.
Since then,the Board of Directors of my Bank (STATE BANK OF
KANSAS) have made several inquiries to their embassy to locate
any of the deceased customer's extended relations but to no
avail. Hence the need to contact you since you share the same
family name with him.
I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and
Property left behind by my client before they get Confiscated or
declared unclaimed by the bank where this Huge deposits of US$10M
was lodged.
The Bank has published several Notice for the Next of Kin of the
deceased to apply for collection of this Funds or have the
account confiscated within a short Period of time.Since I have
been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years now,
I seek your consent to present you as the Next of kin of the
deceased, so that the proceeds of this Account valued US$10
million dollars can be paid to you.
I have all legal documents that can be used to backup any claim
we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable
this deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a
legitimate Arrangement that will protect you from any breach of
the Law. Please get in touch with my email and send to me your
Telephone and fax numbers to enable us further about this
Transaction.
Please endeavor to maintain the top secret of this transaction so
as to enable us to achieve the adequate success of this fortune.
Best regards,
Brandie K. North
Customer Rep
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