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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:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- hansley_h11@sapo.pt (Sapo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Hansley Herman <hansley_h@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: hansley_h1@sapo.pt
Date: 28 Dec 2009 06:20:11 +0800
Subject: Compliments of the season....
Hello,
i am Barrister Hansley Herman,an attorney at law.A deceased client of mine whose last name and yours are the same died as a result of a heart related condition in march 12th 2007.His health condition was due to the death of all his family members in the Tsunami disaster on the 26th of December,2004 in Sumatra Indonesia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
My late client left behind in his bank account a fixed deposit of nineteen million dollars(19 million dollars),which is about to be confiscated by the bank if no next of kin is presented.I am the only one who knows he has no next of kin.This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and i from any breach of law.I await your responce.Thanks
EMAIL:( hansley_h11@sapo.pt )
Best Regard
Barrister Hansley Herman
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Anti-fraud resources:
