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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: malea <malea_t@w.cn>
Reply-To: malea_t@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:44:19 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: My Dear,
My Dear,
Peace be unto you. I am writing you because of the heavy sorrow in my heart and what I am passing through with my kids. My late husband was recently pass on in the month of May 2008. I am contacting you because I have no other choice than to look for someone who I will trust who will help me by saving the future of my children. I and my late deposited with my name the sum of 9.4 million us dollar in a bank abroad.
I am writing you because I want you to help me in securing the money for the future of my children. I am willing to give you 19% of the total money when you have successfully secured the fund to your country, for assisting me and my children. If after reading the above message and it touched you in your heart to help me and children in securing their future in your country, I want you to contact me via my private email address so that we can discuss in private. My email address.
I look forward to your urgent response
Thanks
Yours sincerely
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Anti-fraud resources:
