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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: "MTNS" <mtns1975@mednet.md>
Reply-To: mdd1975@voila.fr
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 18:49:52 +0300
Subject: Preview This
Hello,
It is my appeal that you find time to consider this proposal a worthy
affair. Moral conviction aside, what I want us to discuss bothers on
transfer of money from the account of my deceased master which I would
want you to perceive from legal perspective rather.
My name is Michael NZUE. I worked in a home of a wealthy politician here
in my country, a West African state. This politician was eliminated by the
forces of the past regime in my country but recently I discovered the
documents of some deposits he made with a finance house here.
Verified and secured one of these accounts and stashed the deposit for
eventual claims but can only claim it with foreign collaboration. I am
concrete sure that no other person whatsoever has this evidence. The
deposit contains large sum of money. I would have turned it to the members
of his immediate family but they are already stinking rich and turning it
to his party or the state will mean turning it to another unscrupulous
politician hence I decided on this line
of action.
I will need your collaboration in claiming this deposit. This is the
purpose of contacting you. If you are willing to collaborate with me I
will give you the title and make you the beneficiary of this deposit and
prepare the statutory papers for the claim on the bases that we share 50%
for you, 50% for me. You need not to entertain any fear for every aspect
of security and legal
protections will be taken care of adequately.
I remain with my great regards while expecting your response.
Michael NZUE.
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Anti-fraud resources:
