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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: JOHN EDWARD <john.dwrd1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fedrespaytcenter1@outlook.com
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 12:27:53 -0700
Subject: UNCLAIMED FUND OF USD$12.7 MILLION
UNCLAIMED FUND OF USD$12.7 MILLION
I am contacting you to know if you can make a deal with me, My name is
John Edard I discovered an unclaimed fund of USD$12.7M in our bank.
The deal between you and l now is that, l will present you as the
next of kin and send your information to the authority for legal
approval documents to enable you claim this fund. Actually I don't
have to involve myself officially because of my job, but I know what
is required to get this funds released to you.
I am telling you the truth about this Unclaimed Fund of USD$12.7M
and l need your help to transfer this money to your account
I hope you do understand?
Regards,
John Edward
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Anti-fraud resources:
