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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.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Stacy Russell" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <m_776@yahoo.cn>
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:21:37 -0700
Subject: Seeking for your sincere concern
Hello,
I am Mrs.Stacy Russell,an Indian Malaysian married to late politician, Mr. M.A.
Russell. My husband was divisional treasurer of Ipoh Barat unit of the Malaysian
Indian Congress (MIC) in Perak state.He was brutally murdered by opposing members of
his party for his straightforwardness and accountability though the government claimed
that it was a robbery attack. I was lucky to stand this gruesome murder on the night
of 13th January 2009.My life has not being the same since the demise of my lovely
husband. I was diagnosed with cancer of breast shortly after this accident. My health
has so deteriorated that the doctors say I have few months on earth. Our only son died
in 2007 after a car crash. So, I am in a lonely world of my home waiting for death to
come.
I write you to seek your assistance in the security of US$8.2million deposited by my
late husband with a Bank in MALAYSIA before he was killed. I am the only one with
direct access and information of this deposit. I decided to seek help knowing that my
days are numbered having received a call from the security company that they will turn
the deposit to its treasury if I fail to present a representative of my family for the
claim. I seek your assistance to be made the administrator to this inheritance. I
intend to introduce you to our family attorney whom I deem very competent to guide you
through this claim process. Please get back to me for more information on this
inheritance. I was lead by the Almighty to send this email to you after serious
thought of all emails I saw on the internet. Please treat this seriously. I have all
documents of deposit of this fund to prove this legitimate to you.
I hope to hear from you soonest before I go.
Thank you.
Mrs. Stacy Russell.
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Anti-fraud resources:
