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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: victor@ens.cablered.com.mx
Reply-To: mrs_ruthhopewell@live.com
Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2012 09:31:53 -0700
Subject: With God all things are possible.
May God Bless You as You read. I am Mrs Mr Ruth Hopewell,suffering from
cancerous ailment.I was married to Mr.Brian Hopewell ,my husband worked
with Chevron/Texaco in the United Kingdom for twenty years before he died
in the year 2001. My late husband deposited the sum of $ 17.5 Million
(Seventeen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) with a Bank in United
Kingdom.Recently,my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to
the stroke and cancerous problems I am suffering from.I have decided to
donate this funds to charity Home through you and want you to use my
husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows and charities worldwide.I
took this decision because I do not have any child that will inherit this
money and my husband relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy persons and
I do not want my husband hard earned money to be misused. Awaiting your
urgent reply via my email.address: mrs_ruthhopewell@live.com
With God all things are possible.
Your Sister in Christ,
Mrs Ruth Hopewell
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Anti-fraud resources:
