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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Carlos" <carlos_gomez@barid.com>
Reply-To: carlosgomez@barid.com
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:33:24 +0800 (MYT)
Subject: MUTUAL INVESTMENT PROPOSAL!
Dear Proposed partner,
In some years back our company Pivot oil & gas Inc. executed a consultancy
and supplies contract with the government of Sao Tome & Principe worth
$14.5 million. Presently the funds have been approved for payment. We
however do not have confidence in our former representatives because of
their attempted blackmail that failed.
You are therefore being contacted to act as our representative in order to
get the funds out. We are still in public service so therefore prohibited
from owning a company in this category or operating a foreign account. We
are proposing 10% remuneration for your participation and 5% set aside for
expenses. 70% of the remaining will be kept in your care for further
investment purpose in your country, while the remaining 15% will be sent
to us in Sao Tome for further improvement of the company and settlement of
our debts here.
However, you do not need to be here physically in order to do your job.
You also bear no risk in this partnership. All we need is your full
cooperation and commitment to this course.We sincerely hope this proposal
meets you in the perfect frame of mind. Whether or not this proposal is
accepted by you, we plead that it remains top secrete to you as we
anticipate your urgent response.
Yours sincerely,
Carlos .
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Anti-fraud resources:
