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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:
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Moaz Al-Khatib" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sheikh.al.khatib@lunehopcn.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 08:57:44 +0800
Subject: Please Reply
Good-Day,
My name is Sheikh Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib leader of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. We have a very serious problem that need an urgent attention which I believed you can urgently handle for us. Our difficulty is, we have huge funds that we channeled to a reputable finance and Security company in Europe. We have just concluded at the meeting today that we should contact a foreigner to receive the funds for us
from the Security Company that was while we are contacting you because the funds
is not to be delayed in the custody of the Security Company any longer. There is no risk involved in this matter. Reply me now to enable me to give you full narrative
of the funds and the Vault Company where the funds are deposited. We pledge to
reward you reasonably and we already have all arrangement sorted to
swiftly conclude the release of the funds to you on our behalf.
I await your email response and be free to respond to my email with
any question.
Sheikh Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib
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Anti-fraud resources:
