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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: "Amina Coulibali" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <msaminacoulibali1@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2016 02:04:30 -0700
Subject: Award of financial benefit
I am in urgent need of your attention and humble assistance to collect this fund
deposited into your bank account for safe - keeping.
I am Miss. Amina Coulibali a financial consultant of Mrs. Simone Gbagbo the
wife of the former president Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast.
Actually Mrs. Gbagbo has the sum of USD 10.5 (10 Million Five hundred thousand
dollars) under my care to invest in real estate when she was heading the post
of First Lady. The present government of Cote d' Ivoire (Ivory Coast) has
impounded all assets and cash belonging to family of Ex president Gbagbo and
these funds are still safe because it was already moved to a separate and
secured financial institution in the Country Benin Republic.
During my last visit to her in prison, she advised that I make an arrangement
to move the money out from Benin Republic immediately and invest the money
abroad which was why I contacted you for the safety of this fund.
I choose to contact a complete stranger for this transaction because so many
people have betrayed them since they are no longer in power. I need someone who
can be trusted because this is the only hope left and for the future of their
family, since all have lost. I need your urgent response so that I can give you
details to enable us move forward. We shall give you 30% of the total sum for
this sincere assistant as approved by the First lady.
I assure you that you will never regret your efforts. This transaction is
programmed to be completed in 10 days.
Please do forward your information as listed below if you are willing to handle
this transaction.
Your full name:
Your contact address:
Occupation;
Your phone number:
Date and Place of of Birth:
Country of Origin:
I wait to read from you and keep this information top secret.
Best Regards,
Ms. Amina Coulibali
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