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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "icbc bank" (not involved with lotteries)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "transferred into your bank account" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Korn Chia <marywilams268@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrkornchia@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 8 May 2019 04:03:24 +0100
Subject: ATTN BENEFICIARY: YOUR URGENT RESPOND IS HIGHLY NEEDED FOR THE
RELEASE OF YOUR ABANDON 11.5 MILLION FUND WITH THE ICBC BANK ,
Good news for you today.
Why have you choosing to Abandon your 11.5 million USD with the ICBC
Bank of Thailand ,Your Abandoned transaction is now Ready For Claim .
The payment of 11.5 Million USD has been approved to be transferred
into your bank account by the ICBC BANK OF THAILAND ,But you have
onlytwo options to receive your fund such as Online Wire transfer/
Wire transfer.
This payment is as a result of Inheritance Compensation Fund which is
due to you. In view of this development, you are directed to reconfirm
your name, address and phone number to me now so I can verify if you
are the real beneficiary of the fund to avoid any misrepresentation of
claims ok. Thanks and goodluck while expecting to hear from your asap
and if I do not hear from you soonest then it means that your claim is
fictitious and non-existed and would be treated accordingly ok.
Please acknowledge receipt of this message for more details.
Hope to hear from you soonest.
Yours faithfully,
Mr . Korn Chia
Chairman Foreign Debt/Contract Payment.
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Anti-fraud resources:
