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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:
- "huge sum of money" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Sabina Jones <marilobouabre13@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: Sabina Jones <sabinajones03@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:17:42 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Greetings my dear,
Greetings my dear,
I know my message may come as a big surprise to you since we do not know each other but I beleive sometimes one has to risk confiding in another to succeed in life and that is the reason why I take this bold step of faith to contact you to seek for your kind and honest assistance in receiving my inheritance fund in your country for investment purpose.
Please permit me to briefly introduce myself to you. I am an orphan by name Miss Sabina Jones. I have this huge sum of money deposited in the Bank by my late father and he used my name as his next of kin. Please I need your urgent assistance to retrieve and relocate the funds to your custody to enable me join you in your country to continue my education from where I stopped after the death of my beloved father while you will engage in investing the funds into secured and lucrative ventures of your choice. The amount involve is (US$6.5M) Six Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars.
I will be expecting your kind and urgent reply so that I can give you further details concerning the funds deposit and directives on how the transfer will be done.
May God bless you as you respond to my cry for help.
Yours Sincerely,
Miss. Sabina Jones.
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Anti-fraud resources:
