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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states 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)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Ben Goodman" <amintiwaaa@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bengoodman444@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2023 02:15:42 -0700
Subject: Urgent Attention.
Hello
I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we have never
met before, but you don't need not to be worried as I am using the
only secured and confidential medium available to seek for your
foreign assistance in a business. I am contacting you independently of
my investigation and no one is informed of this communication. I need
your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($5.6 million United
States dollars.) immediately to your private account.
The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for six good years
now without anybody coming for the claim of it. I want to release the
money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the
account owner) who died along with his supposed NEXT OF KIN since
August 2009.
The Banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than 8
years, because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury as
unclaimed fund.
Upon receipt of your reply indicating your interest in this
transaction i send you the full details on how the business will be
executed. Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you
are not interested.
Regards,
Dr. Ben Goodman
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Anti-fraud resources:
