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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- 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.
- jason_stunner@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: marius.apetrei@gmail.com
Reply-To: jason_stunner@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 26 May 2014 11:33:00 +0300
Subject: JOB OFFER(ONLINE)
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am Jason Stunner, I am the Recruitment Officer of apeetrei. We are
looking for a reliable partner across the United States and Canada.
apeetrei is steel supplier in United Kingdom and we are currently
expanding our operations in the United States and Canada. But because of
various banking and legal restrictions, we are unable to open commercial
bank accounts in every states. As such, apeetrei. is recruiting workers to
carry out simple banking
transactions on our behalf. The process is simple. If you are interested
in working with us kindly send a message to my email
(jason_stunner@yahoo.com) confirming your interest then I will send you
your application number which you will use in filling the job offer by
going to our website www.apeetrei.com and fill out the job offer form.
Thanks for your anticipated action. And we hope to hear back from you.
Best Regards,
Jason Stunner
Recruitment Officer
apeetrei Ltd.
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Anti-fraud resources:
