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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:
- "contract review panel" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: JT BUBBA <jt_bubba12@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <jtb2020@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 09:32:26 +0000
Subject: =?windows-1256?Q?ODP:_INVES?= =?windows-1256?Q?TING_IN_YO?=
=?windows-1256?Q?UR_COUNTRY?= =?windows-1256?B?/v7+?=
Dear Respected One.
I was the chairman of contract review panel in my country
before the problem of the land reform program in my country Zimbabwe.
Before the escalation of the situation in Zimbabwe I recovered US20
Million from over inflated contracts by some government officials. But I
was a member of the opposition party the MDC (Movement for Democratic
Change),and the ruling Party,(ZANU PF) has been against us. So I had to
flee the country for (UK) where I am currently seeking political asylum.
Before
the escalation of the situation in Zimbabwe I had not reported the
recovery of my findings to the panel. The money is currently with a
security vault. I have been trying to seek a partner, but it
has been difficult for me.
So I want you to help me make claims
of this fund as my beneficiary and transfer the money to your
account or any account of your choice so that we can share this money.
I am willing to invested in your country in any profitable business proposed by you after sharing.
We
have never met, but I want to trust you and please do not let me down
when this fund finally gets into your hand. Please if you are
interested, get back to me to enable me feed you with more details and
all necessary documentations. Please treat this as confidential.
Yours faithfully,
Johnson Tofara Bubba
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Anti-fraud resources:
