|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. George Kuffor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <georgekuffor@wohnthier.de>
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2019 04:10:27 -0800
Subject: My name is Mr. George Kuffor
Dear Sir/Madam,
Investment Proposal
My name is Mr. George Kuffor . I am a staff of a Government Ministry in Ghana responsible for awarding and execution of contracts. I have in my possession an outstanding contract payment of US$9.5M. These funds represent certain percentage of the total contract value executed on behalf of a Department by a foreign contracting firm, which was officially over-invoiced to the amount of (US$9.5M). Though the actual contract cost has been paid to the original contractor, leaving the excess balance unclaimed. So I am in search of an individual who will assist me to transfer the outstanding amount of the total fund and subsequently we invest same in lucrative ventures in his country.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
