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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:
- "dormant account" (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: "CAN YOU HANDLE IT???" <infostbstb12@gmail.com>
Reply-To: africaunitedbankof09@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2023 11:25:28 +0100
Subject: CAN YOU HANDLE IT???
CAN YOU HANDLE IT???
Attention: Sir.
I am Mr.TONY UGO the regional manager of United Bank Of Africa Nigeria
and in our quarter fiscal year auditing we discovered one dormant
account of later politician he was a one time senator before he was
late and in our auditing we discovered the fund of $20.5m( Twenty
Million Five Hundred Thousand) in dormant for years without in use
and i have decided to transfer this fund to foreign account for safe
keep before the bank will discover the fund and move it to bank
account and once the fund is transferred i will be coming for meeting
and sharing.
Due to the current situation in Nigeria i am ready and willing to move
this fund without any further delay.
I directly and personally have all the necessary back up document and
other necessary papers to support the successful transfer of the fund
to you without delay provided you agree to work with me and strictly
take my professional advice and official directives to actualize the
fund to your custody.
Please, I would like you to get back to me if you wish to handle this
transaction with me or delete it if you are not interested. Upon
receipt of your reply, I will provide you with necessary back up
documents and further details to successfully actualize the fund to
your custody without any risk involved. I would guard you with my
professional advice and direct supervision. I have willingly agreed to
share the fund with you in the ratio or 50/50. which is $10m. The
extra $500,00,00 has been stipulated for all necessary expenses which
we may incur on the course of process and recovering of the fund
payment which we will share once we conclude the transfer.
Can you handle it?
Best Regards
Mr.TONY UGO
The Regional Manager
United Bank For Africa -Nigeria
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