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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: "Dr. James Adams" <drjames.adams@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: drjames.adam@rediffmail.com
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 11:55:29 +0200
Subject: Investment
Dear Sir,
Good day to you.
I hope this letter meets you well, I am sorry if I have intruded on your
privacy or barged in on you without your permission. I have a very
rewarding project which I think will be beneficial to both of us
putting trust,confidentiality into focus. If after going through this
email you find it interesting please send me a response.
I HAVE LARGE SUM OF MONEY IN MY POSSESSION WHICH I WANT TO TRANSFER
ABROAD FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSES.UPON YOUR RESPONSE, I WILL SEND YOU THE
DOCUMENTATION OF THE MONEY AND HOW YOU WILL RECEIVE THE FUNDS ON MY
BEHALF. EXPECTING YOUR REPLY.
BEST REGARDS,
DR. JAMES ADAMS.
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Anti-fraud resources:
