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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Kojo Kwuemi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kojokwuemi@yahoo.es>
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:12:08 -0500
Subject: Reply today.
Dear Friend.
Am personal driver of my late Boss Mr.kemp Henry a farmer who deposited 256 kg of Gold with a private Security company here in Ghana Africa,late Mr.kemp died at Japan earthquakes on 11/3/2011 as he went for business negotiation on the sales of the Gold,although he got the gold from local miners that diverted the gold then so he bought it cheap from them,i got a letter reminder from the security company addressed to my late boss whom i have been working for since 7 years ago,the letter was a reminder from the security company asking him if they should return the Gold back to there store room since they kept it ready at delivering store for months without him coming for the clearance for months,so i quickly thought it wise to contact you to act as next of kin of my late Boss since i know that he has no Next of kin because he told me that he divorced his wife over 13 years ago of having sex with their only adopted son. as you are a foreigner it will be easy to claim the Gold and each kg of that Gold at inter
Confirm if you accept the sharing as i said and send me your direct phone numbers for us to discuss more and proceed with private agreement to sign and start the process immediately.
Thanks.
Mr. Kojo Kwuemi .
Driver.
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Anti-fraud resources:
