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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: Isabel Humberto <lsabelhumberto@qq.com>
Reply-To: isabelhumberto@qq.com
Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 00:34:15 +0200
Subject: Hello
Hello,
I am Isabel 16 years old. I lost my parents Lopez and Texidor Humberto
on their way to Cuba in a plane. My late dad was a very wealthy
contractor with England were he had a wife that was not disclosed to
my mom and I. Now after the death of my parents, this woman has come
from no where to claim all my dads properties he left for me. Having
sold my dads 2 houses. Now she wants to claim the 6.5m usd my dad
deposited with an insurance firm in my name. After reporting to my
dads lawyer he asked me to look for a relative I can trust. Reason i
am asking your help is at my age they say I am minor and cant release
the money to me unless i an older relative. Thos i ought to trust have
turned against me. All I need is your name, address and phone to
present to the agent and your honesty that u will sit on this money.
The agent does not know any of my relative and any one i present he
will take .He has assured me that the money will be released to any
one i present.I am willing to give you half of this money for your
help but most importantly I will need your help to relocate to help me
buy a house inyour country were I can live and go to school from there.
Isabel
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Anti-fraud resources:
