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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:
- "from the desk of" (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: "MRS DOROTHY SEXTON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <unitednations20012@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 15:27:34 -0700
Subject: United Nations office,USA
United Nations office
55 Trinity Ave. SW Atlanta, GA 30303 USA
Fax +1 2066664657
>From the Desk of:
Dorothy Sexton
In the course of a recently concluded 2010/2011 investigations through FBI AND other world recognized security agencies and our internal Financial security network went into action and many BANK FUND TRANSFER DOCUMENTS/VISA CARDS AND CONSIGNMENTS was intercepted/seized due to certain delivery and payment manipulations which is not recognized by this body, your name was mentioned in one of the payments seized/intercepted file information so you are advised to immediately re-confirm your full details before the payment can be directed for released to your destination according to our official payments procedure.
Mrs. Dorothy Sexton
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Anti-fraud resources:
