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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.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Business Relations <koumat69@gmail.com>
Reply-To: koanham@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 11:29:19 +0000
Subject:
--
Hello
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Ibrahim Konan, I am
a staff in one of the banks in abaord coast working in the Account
Department and I would like to know if you can be at my disposal to
strike a perfect/smooth deal in my Bank here.
I discovered an anonymous fund totalling $25.4USD. This fund has been
floating in our suspense account for the past years, in an account
that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his
entire family in July 2014 in a plane crash. Since the notification of
his death our bank have been expecting his next of kin to come forward
and claim his fund because our bank cannot release it unless somebody
applies for it as the next of kin or relative to the Deceased Person
as indicated in our banking guidelines and policies but unfortunately
I learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside
with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claims.
Therefore, I request your assistance by presenting you as the next of
kin/beneficiary of the Deceased Account, so that the fund can be
claimed and transferred to your bank account.
The request of a foreigner as the next of kin in this deal is
occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and an
Ivorian cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. I will agree that
40% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner. In respect to
the provision of a foreign bank account where the fund will be
transferred and 60 % would be for me. Please let me know if you are
interested and also send your direct telephone numbers for discussion
of this deal in detail.
Best regards,
Mr. Ibrahim Konan.
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