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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "my names are " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Lee Kuam Yew" <test@vredestein.com>
Reply-To: leekuamyew00@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2019 15:52:39 +0200
Subject: Hello,
Hello,
My names are Mr. Lee Kuam Yew, I am a Singaporean national and an international business consultant on a private practice. I write to bring a very confidential and discreet business proposal to you for consideration.
I was a very close business confidant of the late President Roberts Mugabe of Zimbabwe. I am the one that helped buy him all his properties here Singapore and other parts of the world and I am a very close associate of the family but there's a very strong secret we shared together and it was about a top secret deposit of $1.2 billions dollars stashed away in a bank in South Africa.
I know that the government of his country and other interested family members will soon start searching for whereabouts of his wealth and estates and for that reason I want to us to come into partnership so I can introduce you to the bank in South Africa as the beneficiary of this fund for the benefits of both of us.
I want us to enter into a very strong pact with a binding agreement on how we are going to invest and share the funds and if you are interested in this proposal kindly indicate urgently with your phone number for further details
Thanks
Best Regards,
Lee Kuam Yew.
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Anti-fraud resources:
