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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Important Letter" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <coporateattorneys.hollander@rediffmail.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:38:10 +0100
Subject: hello1
This a letter from Mrs Susan Abbar from Qatar writing to you about a
humanitarian project proposal. Please reply me to indicate your interest.
This email and its attachments may be confidential and are intended
solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any
views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of Microlease. If you are not the intended
recipient of this email and its attachments you must take no action
based upon them, nor must you copy or show them to anyone. Please
contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in
error.
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Anti-fraud resources:
