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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: Frank Thovex <robinsond443@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Frank Thovex <thovex91@yahoo.es>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 06:52:08 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Strictly from Frank Thovex.
Accept my sincere greetings.
My contacting you through this medium is due to the urgency and confidentiality of this message. I am Frank Thovex a French Citizen and a professional dedicated chauffeur. As part of my duties for the family I worked for I laundered funds to secured Banks accounts and Trusts securities. Currently, I am on the run and I seek your help.
As part of an ongoing effort to secure these large deposits which includes cash and other securities I need you to help me to retrieve specifically some of these valuables for our personal usage. Once you have accepted my offer to move and secure these deposits, I will give further details regarding modalities to carry out the transaction. You will receive 40% of the total amount for your assistance, so please reply for us to proceed with the details.
N:B. You might be tempted to think this is not real but it is. On your acceptance of this offer, subsequent events will assure you of the reality and truth in my message to you. Your patience in seeing this through in about 5 bank working days would make you very rich too. Do consider this and get back to me soonest. I will wait for your response for a week before I shall attempt to contact someone else. Thank you for your understanding.
Frank Thovex.
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Anti-fraud resources:
