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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Randy Lee Webster <webster15@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: websterl944@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:07:30 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
Dear Sir,
I have a very important request that made me to contact you, and this proposal however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honor it against your will. On 2003, A man made a 24 months calendar deposit of $38million with our company which was terminated on May 2005 and since then I have not set my eyes on him. I have tried all possible best to locate the family members but all my effort was unproductive. He died in a plane crash with his wife. No any other person has the information’s about this money except me. Last two weeks, Our company chief Executive told me as Late clients manager to provide his next of kin or foreign business partner otherwise they will convert the $38m into company’s treasury. Seeing that you bear the same surname with this late depositor, I decided to contact you because I want to claim the money but cannot claim the money without presenting someone to our company as his next of kin and I would not want the
money to be converted into company`s account. This is why I came to you so we can work out the deal together and share the money. Now the transaction is on my table and as long as we do this in a way I have planned we will not experience any hitch and this is 100% risk free. If you will be interested send me your phone number so I could call you. Our sharing ratio will be 60% for me and 40% for you. Your early response would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Randy Lee
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Anti-fraud resources:
