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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:
- "transaction is 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: "Jean Blankert" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jean.blankert@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 04:16:23 +0100
Subject: I am still waiting for your response
Greetings,
My name is Jean Blankert and I work with a bank here in the Netherlands. I came across you when I was searching for someone that can be interested in a business proposal that I am putting forward. I am in charge of an investment portfolio that involves money deposited in my bank in Netherlands which I can easily transfer to you as beneficiary. The transaction is risk free because it has been strategically planned to complete successfully.
Kindly reply me with your private email (for confidential reasons) so I can give you more details and explain the procedures of the proposal to you.
Await your swift response.
Thanks and regards,
Jean Blankert
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Anti-fraud resources:
