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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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 free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrmohammedatah@inmail24.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Mohammed Atah." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrmohammedatah@inmail24.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 07:15:51 +0100
Subject: Am waiting to hear from you soon
I am Mr. Mohammed Atah, Executive Director with a local bank here in Accra.I decided to contact you directly to solicit your assistance and guidelines in making a business investment and transfer of (US$14.5M)to your country through you from my bank.
But at this moment, I am restrain to issue more details about this profitable Business investment until I get your response by mail.Kindly reply me urgently if you are interested, I will give you the full details of the business as soon as I receive a positive reply indicating your interest in participating in this project. Your percentage is secure; to facilitate a rather safer link with you, please forward to me the followings:
1).Full Names and Address:
2).Telephone, Fax and Cell phone number
3).Occupation.
4).Age.
This project is ready for execution as soon as I hear from you. I look forward to your swift response and will send you the details once i hear from you.Reply through my privateemail(mrmohammedatah@inmail24.com)
Best Regards.
Mr Mohammed Atah.
Executive Director.
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Anti-fraud resources: