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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: johnson brown <dr.johnsonbrownie202@gmail.com>
Reply-To: drjohnsonbrown202@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:01:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Urgent and work with me.
Dear Friend.
Good day . My name is Mr. Johnson Brown Jr. I am currently working with one of the prime bank in my country as the Senior Auditor.During one of our audit in the bank i found out that one of our foreign customers that died since some years back in a fatal car accident left the sum of $25Million US Dollars (Twenty-Five million USD) in our bank . Since we conducted that year auditing.I waited to see if anybody will apply for the claim of that amount. To my greatest surprise since then no one have ever come over to claim it.I made all my enquiries and found out that he left no kin.
I expect your urgent response if you can handle this project with me. Send me your interest and if possible call me immediately you read this mail with my direct private Phone no: +22671594926.
Respectfully yours,
Mr. Johnson Brown Jr.
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Anti-fraud resources:
