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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:
- "johnfanzi@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Paula Zhan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnfanzi@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:01:07 -0800
Subject: Good News (READ)
Attention,
My name is Paula Zhan and I am an international financial consultant.
I want to introduce you to a new form of legal financial investment with which you can make quick and easy profits legally and without stress. Total oil Int’l is helping investors make these profits stated above. All you have to do is invest a minimum of $50 and above and after every four days, you would have made a profit 40% of your total investment. This means that if you invest $50, you would be giving a total amount of $70 after four days, that is the $50 which was the original amount invested plus $20 which is your profit after the fourth day.
You would be provided with an online account with a top rated bank at the beginning of your investment and your capital investment plus your profit would be put in this account for you so you have access to it at any time you so desire. You must also know that that with this account, you can transfer the funds there in to any of your accounts or credit cards abroad at any time you so desire. You can also stop the investment and get your original capital back at anytime you so desire.
Contact the fiduciary officer below with information’s such as Full Name 2. Address: 3.Age/Gender 4. Occupation 5.Nationality 6.Phone Number; for further details if you are interested.
John Fanzi
Email: johnfanzi@yahoo.cn
Paula Zhan(Financial Consultant).
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Anti-fraud resources:
