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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:
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Robert Yong" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <robertyongforyou@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2014 02:35:37 -0000
Subject: Transaction Please Reply
Hello,
Thank you very much for your response to my email and as you already know, I am Mr Robert Yong and I am a Transfer Supervisor on investment in Hang Seng Bank Ltd of Hong Kong. This business involve the transfer of $47.5million USA Dollars from my bank where I have worked for the past 22years. It is 100% risk free and well planned.
I shall furnish you with more information about this operation immediately I receive a positive response from you if you are interested and please kindly keep it to yourself only, it should be very confidential.
Awaiting your response.
Sincerely,
Mr Robert Yong
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Anti-fraud resources:
