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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: DR EBENER KWAME <ebenezer.kwame820@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ebenezrr.kwame77@aol.com
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 13:56:43 +0000
Subject: DEAR FRIEND REPLY
Dear Friend,
I am Ebenezer Kwame a banker with a wife and four children. I have a
customer in my branch where I head as a manager and this man died because
of the coronavirus he is a gold dealer.
Before this man died the fund he deposited with us has no next of kin and
it was placed in our escrow account because he wanted to use the fund to
buy his gold and when he was in the hospital he told the doctor to contact
me and when I arrived in the hospital he told me to use the fund for
humanitarian purpose, such as orphans and others. I’m contacting you now to
claim this fund as his next of kin. I searched personally and got your
email address.
If you refuse to claim this fund meaning after some time my head office
will call for the fund and we lost it forever. I have studied everything
and I have also done my home work properly there is no risk at all involve,
I am a family man I cannot do anything stupid. Please let us work as one
family. We will give you 30% of this fund while 30% goes to me and 40% will
be invested in your country based on the area of investment we agreed upon.
Once you agree to work with me and I give you all the details and you
follow up with my head office directives this transaction will take only
three working days the fund will hit your bank account of your choice. The
amount is $5,330,000.00 only.
Get back to me so that we can proceed with my personal informations and
conclude.
Best Regards,
Ebenezer Kwame
Tel: 233 544753686
<http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
Virus-free.
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Anti-fraud resources:
