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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: "prodigynnanna" <prodigynnanna8@gmail.com>
Reply-To: prodigynnanna7@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2016 23:30:17 +0200
Subject: fund transfer
Attn: SOS
I am Prodigy Nnanna by name and i am in desperate need of your assistance
to secure my Inheritance from my late father whom i lost a month ago. My
late dad's relatives and siblings have their eyes on the money and they
can go to any length to get it so i need an unknown person to my family to
help me secure the fund. You will receive it through Bank to Bank Transfer
so forward your Bank Name, address and Bank Account Number, Routing No
direct telephone number so that I will forward it to the paying Bank for
them to wire the fund into your Bank Account that is all. Then after the
transfer you will send me an invitation letter so i can come meet you. You
will have 40% of the fund when we meet. The total fund to be transfer to
you $2.5M. I know there are many scammers on the internet today and
trusting me might be a bit impossible and I understand so as a sign of
good faith please send me an empty account with no money in it. And make
sure the account can fit in $2.5M,I will send you the required documents
to claim the money on my behalf. I have other things to tell you but I
know seeing is believing so you need to get the money first, that’s the
only way I can get you to listen to me.
Please get back to me as soon as possible
Regards.
Mr Prodigy Nnanna
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Anti-fraud resources:
