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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Leelamma Raju <chestdame@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: Leelamma Raju <rmrsleelamma@yahoo.fr>
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2014 20:21:44 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Apostolic Greetings !!!
Apostolic Greetings !!!
My
name is Mrs Leelamma Raju a widow to Mr. rash Raju who was a competent
business man here in Abidjan Cote d'ivoire , we were married for many
yrs without any child till his death in October 2005 after a brief
illness. Due to the promise which i revered to him on the alter at the
day of our church wedding i decided not to remarry or get a child
outside my matrimonial home which is against the holy bible.
He
deposited the sum of $( 2.7 Million )USD Two million Seven hundred
thousand in a Finance Security Company here in Abidjan . Recently, my
Doctor told me that i would not last for the next 5 months due to cancer
& stroke illness.
Having known my condition i decided to
seek for a competent and reliable God fearing person or church to
entrust this fund to utilize this fund for charity work - helping the
orphanage, less privillege and the homeless. Please I don't need any
telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the
presence of my husband's relatives are around me always. i don't want
them to know about this development.
As soon as i receive your
reply i shall give you the relevant documents that will legalize you to
have access over this fund. Please always pray for me. And assure me
that you will act accordingly as i stated herein. Hoping to receive your
reply.
Your's Sister In Christ,
Mrs Leelamma Raju
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