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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)
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "INFO" <Hans.Wiebauer@t-online.de>
Reply-To: suerioffice@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 17:00:31 +0200
Subject: INFO
DEAR FRIEND, I AM Barrister ERIC SUTANTO PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO LATE MR AARON BIRCH, A FOREIGN NATIONAL AND A CONTRACTOR OF ROADS AND OIL PIPELINES IN HERE HAVE THE JAKARTA-INDONESIA.I PLEASURE TO CONTACT YOU ON THIS SUBJECT MATTER. ALONG MY LATE CLIENT Died WITH HIS ENTIRE FAMILY IN INDONESIA EARTH QUAKE DISASTER (27TH MAY 2006) OFF THE SOUTH WESTERN COAST OF JAVA, INDONESIA.HE LEFT THE SUM OF US $ 9.5MILLION WITH A BANK HERE AND EVER SINCE HIS DEATH THE BANK HAS ASKED ME TO PROVIDE HIS NEXT OF KIN. I HAVE THE PLEASURE TO CONTACT YOU SO THAT YOU WILL STAND AS HIS NEXT OF KIN SO confide WE CLAIM THAT WHICH HE LEFT BEHIND THIS MONEY SINCE I HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOCATING THE relatives FOR OVER 6 YEARS NOW.ON HEARING FROM YOU ., I SHALL GIVE YOU A COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION OF WHAT'S TO DO AS REGARDS TO THIS I WILL LIKE YOU TO GIVE ME YOUR FOLLOWING INFORMATION FOR MORE DETAILS; 1. YOUR AGE 2. YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS 3. YOUR OFFICE AND HOME TELEPHONE NUMBERS 4. YOUR POSITION OCCUPA
TIONS AND BEST REGARDS Barrister ERIC SUTANTO
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Anti-fraud resources:
