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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- d4b3n24@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: World Bank & IMF Delegates <paymistressgeneral@gmail.com>
Reply-To: d4b3n24@qq.com
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 19:42:59 -0500
Subject: Fund Release Confirmation
Attention: Sir,
I wish to remind you that after many attempts to reach you through our
correspondence in your country which proved abortive, I am delighted
to write you concerning your fund which is floating in our Transfer
Hard Disk component.
Based on this, you are requested to contact our director of foreign
payment panel(Mr.Gerald N.Scott, E-mail: d4b3n24@yahoo.com) confirming
your availability and your readiness to comply with our transfer
proceeding so that we can pass an instruction to our corresponding
bank in your country to recognize your Hard Disk Transfer Code and
credit your account through Reserve Bank.
Accept Our Extreme Gratitude while we await your prompt reply.
Thanks.
Olivia-Mercy Kachi
Foreign Payment Panel
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Anti-fraud resources:
