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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.
- 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: info@buah-merah.com
Reply-To: wolfgangfrostel@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 22:16:09 +0700
Subject: VERY IMPORTANT
Dear Sir / Madam,
Good afternoon and may my mail bring understanding and blessing to you.
I am an Austrian resident in the United Kingdom and has a classified
information of one of our late client deposits of huge sum in his opening
balance before he met his untimely death.
He has the same surname with you and I was the accounting officer and
since he had no registered next of kin I am therefore nominating you to be
his next of kin so that we secure all legal backing documents and
approvals so that the funds are transferred to you at a sharing rate of
50% to you and 50% to me.
Don’t miss this opportunity.
Wolfgang Frostl.
Call me on Tel: +447937426997
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Anti-fraud resources:
