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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 amount 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)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ebola Disease"<info@lawyer.com>
Reply-To: <mrmarvin_k@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:00:44 +0100
Subject: THE OUTBREAK OF EBOLA VIRUS IN WEST AFRICA
Hello,
My Name is Barr Marvin Wills. A client of mine who died of the EBOLA virus deposited a huge amount of money in a bank here in the
US but i dont know how much. He is a Liberian Citizen so i want you to stand in as his next of kin so that the whole fund will be yours.
And you have to keep this as a secret so that you wont get yourself into any trouble because this is going to be very easy.
We shall settle between ourselves when the whole transaction is over. Go to google and see for yourself
on the Outbreak of EBOLA VIRUS in west africa.
I appreciate your time and understanding.
Regards,
Barr Marvin Wills.
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Anti-fraud resources:
