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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:
- "million 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)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
- 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.
- email-louan_mefire@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Louan Mefire <taikisyatoru2001@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: Louan Mefire <louan_mefire@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 19:54:49 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Hello,
Hello,
Greetings to you and all your family members. My name is Louan Mefire. 24 years in Cote d'Ivoire. I am the only child of my late parents. My late father was a farmer of cocoa rich in our country before he was poisoned to death last year, while my mother died a few years ago. I inherited the sum of U.S. $ 5.5 million dollars from my late father. The money was deposited in a bank here by my father before his death. I need your help to claim and transfer this fund to your country for the purpose of joint investment partnership with you and also to move there to continue my education. I am willing to offer you 20% of the funds as compensation for such assistance. Please reply urgently.
Thank you and God bless.
Email-louan_mefire@yahoo.com
Regards,
Miss Louan Mefire.
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Anti-fraud resources:
