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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 beloved," (a common phrase found 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: Diane Sirine <dianesirineb@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: dianesirinea@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 05:14:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Hello Dear Beloved,
Hello Dear Beloved,
I Am Miss.Diane Sirine I am a deaf the only Daughter of late Fredrick Sirine, my father died in mysterious circumstances in which I believed that he was poisoned by his business associates.
After his burial I discovered a document covering (USD 12.5 M) which he deposited in a Finance company. I have verified the deposit with the Finance company and its authenticity is clear. I am soliciting for your kind assistance in the transfer of this fund from the Finance company here to your country for investment.
You will also serve as the guardian to this fund as I’m not at all knowledgeable in the international business world. I will give you further details as soon as I hear from you and we will discuss terms and percentage subsequently but you must treat it highly confidential. I waitfor your response.
Regard,
Ms Diane Sirine
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Anti-fraud resources:
