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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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Mark Scott" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mscott2012@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 08:33:53 -0700
Subject: Business Proposal
Hello,
I am Mark Scott.I work with Nat west Bank in United Kingdom.
I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin/Beneficiary
of one of our late customer (Ms.Leuzi Cardoso) who deposited
the sum of $20.5 million dollars before her death in a plane
crash .You can read more about it by visiting the site below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/24/nepal-plane-crash-4-ameri_n_692142.html
For assisting,you will be entitled to 50% of the total amount.If
interested,respond back so that i will let you know how we are
to execute this transaction.
Best regards,
Mark Scott
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Anti-fraud resources:
