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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: "Mr Johnson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lindajohnson@globomail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 07:32:56 +0100
Subject: Attention: Sir/ma,
I do not have the means to express this request to you via courier hence the use of electronic mail, please I
will want you to treat this mail with utmost urgency. My name is Linda Johnson and I am a aminor.
My mother died when I was 8 and my father also died seven years after, before his death he was a
successful businessman and a philanthropist, when it was obvious he would not survive his illness at the
hospital he personally instructed David Moore who was his personal attorney to supervise the sales of
his textile company and to make a deposit of $2.5 Million in my favor at Citi Vault. He died in a London
hospital.
I have an uncle who has taken everything my late father worked for and now I am under immense
pressure by the said uncle to instruct the attorney to sign off the fund and hand it over to him otherwise
he will stop my going to school. I have lost everything and do not want to lose this one hence my mail
to you for assistance. Hold the fund for 5 years with no interest in my favor and after the 5th year i will
come for it and by then i will be 22 years. My only brother is into drug and as I write he is in a rehab
center.
It is not possible for me to leave the fund at Citi Vault and have peace of mind. My uncle is a never do
well and he is capable of doing anything to have the money. Before now David has helped me with all
that I need to know about the fund at Citi Vault and the private clients manager at Citi Vault has clearly
stated to me that I will not encounter any problem moving the fund to any destination of my choice
because David Moore had earlier informed them of my decision to relocate the money.
In receipt of your response to this mail indicating your willingness to assist, I will meet the private
client manager at Citi Vault and he will take it up from there but my plea to you is not to capitalize on
my present predicament and disappear with the money without any trace of you. It sounds ridiculous
trusting a stranger in this type of venture but I know that God will guide you and I to do the right thing.
Life itself is a risk and I am ready to lose this money to somebody I do not know than to have my uncle
twist me out of it.
God bless you.
Sincerely,
Linda Johnson
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