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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:
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "my direct line" (a "direct line" in a scam usually means an untraceable mobile phone number used by a scammer in an internet cafe, a redirection service number that forwards to a mobile or a free voicemailbox in a different country.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Robert Brown" <shannon@platinumsynergy.com>
Reply-To: r-brown@blumail.org
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:19:12 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Plea For Assistance from Robert Brown
Dear
I am a staff of Private Security/Mortgage House in Malaysia. An investment
was placed under my management years ago by a customer who is now
deceased. I need your assistance in investing these funds. if you're
interested contact me, If you are not interested in my offer do not
respond to this email.
I want you to understand that I can't just disclose this transaction
without making sure who am dealing with and as well be sure that you are
capable of handling this transaction which involves a huge amount of money
as I see it to be. I need the below information in respect to this I
would want to know certain things about you before I can really break the
ice to you in detail. Please do not be offended by my tune but you must
have to understand that I am making sure this is secured for security
reasons.I do not want to make any mistake and I want to make sure whoever
I am working with should be capable of handling such transaction and also
trustworthy. Also due to certain attempts on this fund and fraud I want be
very careful.
Bear in mind that this is 100% if we follow it legally. I will want to
discuss with for you to know the Origin, nature, transperency and reallity
of this business venture and you majke your decision as it is very vital
and important that you discuss busniess and nothing should be a surprise
consiering the rate of untrue information being spread around. It is worth
every bit of it if I may say.
I want you to understand that I am really very careful on making a choice
of partner for good reasons.I want us to go into details before we can
come to a conclusion. So please do not be offended if I cant work with
you. I will require immediate response from you for us to proceed. You
can call me on my direct line +60103611284.
Thanks,
Robert Brown
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