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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "georgelawson1@aol.fr" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Giovanni Presti <giovanni_presti@alice.it>
Reply-To: georgelawson1@aol.fr
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2013 21:21:09 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Donate to the Orphan (Abandoned children).
Dear Friend,
I have instructed my secretary Mr.George Lawson to send you ATM Visa card
valued $3m after my bank had accepted to deposit the funds to visa card, though
I informed my bank about my interest to donate the fund for charity purposes.
Kindly donate 70% to orphanage homes. I have no any child to inherit it, and
God forbid that my fund shall go to the government treasury as unclaimed. While
I die for cancer which kept me in hospital till this day.
Contact Mr.George Lawson
Email: georgelawson1@aol.fr
Send him your name
Address
Phone number for the delivery
Best regards,
Giovanni Presti
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Anti-fraud resources:
