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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 friend" (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.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447017027662 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- davidcolt@hushmail.com (Hushmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "David Coltart" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <davidcolt@hushmail.com>
Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 21:39:53 +0530
Subject: JOINT VENTSUR BUSINESS
Dear Friend,
My Name is Senator David Coltart (www.davidcoltart.com) A Zimbabwean based in London United Kingdom, I just retire from Active serve and want to go into investment in a very lucrative sector of any country economy that is doing well, and from my wide consultation, I was encouraged to focus on India because the economy is growing at a stable rate which prompted the United States President, Barack Obama to visit India to seek for access to the market. My Personal Assistant (P.A) is already in India for this Purpose only so please if you feel we can do this together.
Please feel free to reply me back to Email (davidcolt@hushmail.com) with your full details so the my personal assistant can contact you and arrange a meeting with you for furtherance of this course.
God bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
Senator David Coltart
Tel:+447017027662
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Anti-fraud resources:
