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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:
- "monrovia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "David Usman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <davidusman54@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 19:15:25 +0100
Subject: Dear Sir
MY NAME IS DAVID USMAN,I WORK WITH LIBERIAN DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT BANK HERE IN MONROVIA LIBERIA IN WEST AFRICAN REGION.I AM THE PERSONAL ACCOUNT OFFICER TO LATE PATRICK SAWYER WHO DIED IN LAGOS NIGERIA ON EBOLA DISEASE IN JULY THIS YEAR.I AM CONTACTING YOU IF YOU WILL RECEIVE HIS FUND WHICH HE DEPOSITED IN OUR BANK BEFORE HE WAS DEATH SO THAT WE CAN SHARE IT FOR OUR PERSONAL USE SINCE HE DID NOT INDICATED HIS NEXT OF KIN IN HIS INFORMATION HE GAVE US.I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THE SURNAME DOES NOT MATTER IF IT IS DIFFRENT FROM MR SAWYER.ALL I NEED FROM YOU FOR THE PAPER WORK IS YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS AND YOUR PRIVATE PHONE NUMBER FOR EASY COMMUNICATION.
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Anti-fraud resources:
