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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: "Mrs.Shaffiatou Alzadou" <in0038@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: "Mrs.Shaffiatou Alzadou" <info.hmtreasury@accountant.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:26:38 +0900 (JST)
Subject: I have important message for you right now.
Hello,
My name is Mrs.Shaffiatou Alzadou I am the newly appointed Director General of ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND POLICY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT Republic of Benin. We are newly appointed Economic management team to trace funds from local to international level within Benin, West Africa and beyond.
I discovered your name on this sheet of document; a pending fund transfer. From the date on this document this fund has been here long time ago;your first claim which failed you some how along the line.
we want to know why you have not receive this payment, because I can see some miss-management surrounding it.
Reply this mail because I have important message for you right now.
Thank you
Best regards
Mrs.Shaffiatou Alzadou
Director General
ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND POLICY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
Republic of Benin
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Anti-fraud resources:
