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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "transfer of your funds" (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)
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: sopana.v@rice.mail.go.th
Reply-To: oc0549550@gmail.com
Date: 30 Nov 2019 13:53:20 -0800
Subject: Payment
>From the Desk of Oliver Cameron.
Director of Foreign Remittance Department.
ANZ Bank of Australia
Head Office: 11/822 Collins St
Melbourne VIC Australia 3000
Dear Sir/Madam,
Are you on a sick bed ? Please we want to be very sure before we
proceed this transaction to avoid making a wrong transfer of your
funds US$5.8 MILLION to unknown beneficiary account, because we
received urgent instruction this morning from one Mrs. Amy
Barthel who claimed to be your relatives that you are on a sick
bed and you instructed her to take over your compensation payment
funds valued US$5.8 MILLION that our bank should transfer the
funds to her online banking account as stated below.
Bank Name: US BANK OF AMERICA
Bank Address: 9724 BAY SIDE CT.,SPRING HILL FL 34608
Home Address: 13527 NW 147TH AVE ALACHUA FL 32615
Account Holders Name: AMY BARTHEL
Account Number: 76875994746
Routing Numbers: UD5653
Online Account User ID:VP167
Online Access Password:71104
Please get back to us immediately to confirm if you truly send
her and you should also provide us your authorization letter and
funds approved certificate before we proceed the transfer the
fund to her.
We wait for your urgent respond to enable us proceed with
immediate effect.
Thanks .
Best regards.
Oliver Cameron
Director
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Anti-fraud resources:
