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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: captfosterdan.@hotmail.com
Reply-To: captfosterdan@hotmail.com
Date: 14 Dec 2013 05:38:26 -0800
Subject: INVESTMENT PROPOSAL
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Dear
I want to confirm to you that my interest to invest good money
internationally is strong. With trust, I faithfully contact you.
I know this letter will definitely come to you as a huge
surprise, but I implore you to take time to go through it
carefully, as the decision you make will go a long way to
determine our future business relationship.
I need to move about £12.5milion GBP for foreign investment. The
fund was generated from several ROI (Return on Investment. This
is a personal deal I executed with my office and I do not want
the payments to come to our company account as I will be unable
to claim it alone. I have decided to use this amount as foreign
investment. I want to present you as a foreign investor and
authorize for the money to be moved to you in your country.
I need someone I can trust to I can authorize you to be the
beneficiary of the money but I need to be assured on my following
concerns;
Can I trust you with the fund?
Can you keep a secret?
Can you help me find a good investment for the fund?
What areas of investment will you recommend?
What % share will you want to take for assisting me?
This is a very legal transaction and everything will be
coordinated in black and white. The essence of secrecy cannot be
underestimated because, a lot of money is involved, and you
cannot trust anybody especially when it comes to this amount of
money.
God bless you as you consent to work with my team in honesty. Let
me know if we can work together. I have strong plans to
compensate your assistance.
Warm regards
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Anti-fraud resources:
