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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.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Johnson Bessan" <agentowen@freemail.hu>
Reply-To: bessan28@firemail.de
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 05:59:12 -0800
Subject: Can we work together ? 140
Bessan & Associates
Suite 11 Immigration Plaza
Seme Border
Benin Republic
Good Day
I worked for Late Mr. Micheal as his Attorney. He died of Heart attack here in Benin Republic.
I need your assistance to claim the money he left behind. The Financial Institution has notified me to contact and provide an existing relative with notarized papers or the funds will be declared unclaimed and taken over by the Financial Institution's treasury.
So far, my efforts to get hold of someone related to my late client has proved abortive.
I am actually asking for your consent to present you to the Financial Institution as thenext of kin of my late Client since you share the same surname with him for the purpose of reclaiming his funds so that the proceeds of this will be released to you.
I shall provide all the notarized documents to support and authenticate the claim that you are my Client's next of kin. All I require is your honest co-operation and commitment to enable us achieve success in this transaction.
I am not unaware of the fact that a transaction of this magnitude will first make anyone apprehensive and overwhelmed, but I assure you that I contacted you specifically for good and with full assurances that everything in this venture will go well.
Please contact me for more information if you are interested ....
Email : bessan27@firemail.de
Tel : +229 97302852
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Anti-fraud resources:
