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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: Mike Atah <atah.mike@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mike.atah@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 02:52:46 +0100
Subject: Greetings
Greetings!
I have learned that its better to trust and be disappointed than be a
cynic. For a cynic knows the price of everything but the value of
nothing. I still have faith in human integrity and I am grateful to
Almighty God that I successfully made it to freedom after all the Years
in Nigeria as a politician.
I want you to help me transfer about US$12,920,000.00 safely to your
bank account, there's absolutely no risk involved because the money
belonged to one of Governor in Nigeria who face some difficult by the
EFCC, I was his personal assistant until unfortunate embarrassment from
the EFCC. I will be given you full information about the said fund on
your response.
Best Regards,
Mr. Mike Atah
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Anti-fraud resources:
