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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:
- "keep this confidential" (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: thomas bug <thbug77@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <thomas_bug22@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 01:48:18 -0700
Subject: Awaiting Reply/Urgent
RE-TRANSFER OF (£17,678.000.00.) (Seventeen Million, Six hundred and seventy-eight thousand British Pound Sterling) IS confidentially URGENT;
I need you to take a OATH OF TRUST if i make you the beneficairy of this fund, SWEARING WITH ME YOU WILL NOT LET ME DOWN IF THIS FUND is transfered into your account and YOU WILL KEEP THIS CONFIDENTIAL WITHOUT INVOLVING ANYONE IN THIS BUSINESS AND everything you tell me is truth and you will never lie to me or betray me once you receive this fund in your country and you also promise me you will treat me as your brother and you will take care of me once i come over to me.
I will respone to your email if you are interested this condition.
Yours sincerely
Mr.Thomas Bug
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Anti-fraud resources:
