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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- marekkozto@aol.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Marek Koztowski" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <marekkozto@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 04:41:38 +0100
Subject: I Need Your Urgent Assistance
Dear Friend,
I am sincerely sorry for bugging into your privacy; it's due to the business deal in my bank involving a large sum of money and as a foreigner I have taken pain to contact you to present you as the beneficiary to an inheritance of the said sum.
I am a banker with a bank in Switzerland. I am conducting a standard process investigation on behalf of our Bank an international banking conglomerate. This investigation involves a client and also the circumstances surrounding investments made by this client with our Bank. Our client died intestate and nominated no successor in title over the investments made with our bank running to millions of US Dollars.
The essence of this communication with you is to request you provide us with your information (FULL NAME, ADDRESS, TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS) please comment on this issue so that I can use my position in the bank to establish your eligibility to assume status of successor in title to the deceased.
You must appreciate that we are constrained from providing you with more detailed information at this point. Please respond to this mail as soon as possible to enable us the opportunity to explain further details to you.
You can reach me on this Email: marekkozto@aol.com, for more information's on this project.
Best Regards,
Mr. Marek Koztowski.
Email: marekkozto@aol.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
