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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- alfer.rafeal@engineer.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Bank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alfer.rafeal@engineer.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2017 22:52:01 +0200
Subject: Re:
Hello,
I greet you with warm regards. I earn a living in the oil industry as leader of the Procurement Unit in a refining outfit owned by a South East Asian government.
On my desk is a mandate to arrange for crude oil purchase from Libya for up to 2,000,000 barrels on monthly bases for 12 calendar months.
The essence of my reaching out to you is the fact that am in the process of building a middle man structure to mediate between the 2 parties involved before the contract is signed
You may be pondering why I cannot do it myself right? The honest fact is that as a staff, it is against my company's operational ethics to profiteer from any dealings with the firm hence the reason I need a trustworthy person outside my work circle in order to maintain a discreet profile.
I wish to extend this partnership to you my friend to build a middle man structure which you while i work from the back to guide you. Our commission/brokerage as middle men is between $2 - $3 per barrel so if the target of 2M barrels is met monthly we stand to share $4M - $6M every month for a span of 12 months.
Worry less about the speedy sales as I have contacts within oil producing country's top echelon for license of crude oil export/lifting to any firm I so present for this business.
Honestly if you can forecast you see that this venture is a step to being a name to reckon with in the global oil market.
Kind regards.
Alfer Rafeal
Phone: +6531586502
Email: alfer.rafeal@engineer.com
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