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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million dollars" (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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Mohammad Ali <mohammadali052332@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 08:48:48 -0700
Subject: VERY URGENT
My name is Mr Mohammad Ali. from Lome-Togo,
I'm the Chairman of FOREIGN PAYMENTS CONTRACT AWARD COMMITTEE and also
Director of Foreign Remittance Department of African Development Bank
(BOA) Lome-Togo,
I have($17.4million Dollars) to transfer to your country for
investment, and the fund has been transfered to our Corresponding bank
And i have all the documents you will present to our corresponding
bank for the transfer the fund to your bank account without any delay.
And if you are interested get back to me immediately for more details
and i will give you 40% and 60% for me and what i needed from you to
keep it a top secret.
(1) Your full name
(2) Your age
(3)Your occupation
(4)Your marital status
(5)Your full residential address and country.
(6)Your direct phone and fax numbers.
(7)A copy of your driving license or passport scanned and sent to me by mail.
I am waiting to hear from you soon.
Thanks and Best regards,
Mr Mohammad Ali.
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Anti-fraud resources:
