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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- gmorgan66@rediffmail.com (Rediffmail, India; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Gustafson Morgan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gmorgan66@rediffmail.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2012 05:44:18 -0700
Subject: CODE: #112811......
Attn: Sir,
RE: PAYMENT CODE: #112811:12: YOUR OUTSTANDING PAYMENT
In pursuance to the United Nations Global Micro Debt Payment, we authoritatively inform you that your payment profile was submitted to our department by your local agent/partner and was facilitated by your embassy here.
In compliance to the United Nations directives as issued to us to release your long outstanding payment and thus we demand that you forward to our department via the undersigned email below required info:
1. Your full names..................
2. Your contact address.............
3. Your direct phone number.........
4. Valued amount expecting..........
upon receipt of the above details we shall immediately reconcile your record and wire the fund into your nominated account witting 48 hours.Note,the exercise will last for 3 months and will expire on the 22 day of August 2012.
Thanks,
Gustafson Morgan
gmorgan66@rediffmail.com
for:Ban ki-Moon (Secretary-General United Nations)
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Anti-fraud resources:
