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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:
- "death certificate" (this phrase is often used in inheritance scams such as next of kin or https://www.419scam.org/419-murdered-businessman.htm">orphan scams. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "MENG SOPHAL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mengsophal@rocketmail.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2014 00:01:29 +0700
Subject: CANT WE PARTNER IN THIS
My name is Ms Meng Sophal, A staff of a financial firm here in the Kingdom of Cambodia.I am contacting you in respect to a deposit that was abandoned here for so long now.
I am contacting you to stand as the next of kin and partner to this deposit and apply for the claim to be released to you so we will get it shared among our self.
The deposit is bearing Mr.John Edward Thompson an Australian as the depositor who was killed here in Cambodia some weeks after the deposit. I have gotten the copy of his death certificate and i can provide it for you with other legal documents.
Waiting to hear from you.
Regards
Ms Meng Sophal
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Anti-fraud resources:
