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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 united states 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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr.Tim Williams." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dr.timoffice@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:47:06 -0700
Subject: Best Regards ...
Dear Sir,
I am Dr.Tim Williams, the legal adviser of Al Mustafa Hussein. My client was a former bodyguard to the late Libya dictator Col Muammar Ghadafi. My client assisted the former Libyan President to deposited this fund. This fund was deposited with an open beneficiary in a Security firm as was directed by the Late Libyan President before his demise.The fund is in the neighbourhood of Thirty Two Million United States Dollars!
Unfortunately my client was wounded and captured during the war in Libya. He has since been released since he was just a body guard. He has mandated me to assist him and look for a foreign investor that will invest the funds.
If you are interested in being the foreign investor that will act as the beneficiary of this fund and also help in the investment of this large sum of money, please let me know so that I can give you a complete detail of how we can go about this transaction. This transaction is 100% risk free and there is no way the funds can be traced to the Muammar Ghadafi family.
I look foward to hearing from you soonest.
Best Regards,
Dr.Tim Williams.
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Anti-fraud resources:
