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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: Rose Wallim <fisaiah@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Rose Wallim <rosewallim@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 12:04:44 +0900 (JST)
Subject: from Rose
from Rose
My name is Rose. I lost my father few months ago.
My father Mr. Wallim Kossi was a cocoa merchant and before his death left deposit of 3.9 million usd in the bank for a foreign investment. Now that my father is late, I need your assistance investing this money in your country for future benefit and the most essential thing is my school . I will introduce you to the bank where my father deposited this money as my guardian immediately I receive your reply with your personal information.
Sincerely yours,
Rose
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Anti-fraud resources:
