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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: Office Memo <officememo2015@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: Office Memo <anto_anthonybellsd@yeah.net>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 21:01:38 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: From The Securities and Exchange Commission
Attn,
A compensation payment is being arranged for you by the
Securities and Exchange Commission to compensate you for the loss you might have
incurred in the pursuit of your contract or Inheritance payment with the
government of some West African Countries so many years ago.I want to
inform you that your name was mentioned by some fraudsters caught who
defrauded many foreigners some years ago and after consideration your
name was included for a compensation.
The present government after due consideration and advise from the
World bank,United Nations,European Union and African Union decided
that a compensation amount of $1,750,000.00 should be paid to you and
Nine others each.We at the Securities and Exchange Commission have
been charged to assist in this by going through the Stock Exchange and
Chamber of commerce to trade stocks to raise capital for this compensation
Payment to you.Do respond as soon as Possible.Your interest to collect/receive
this compensation so that we can move on with the procedures.Reply to my private
email anto_anthonybellsd@yeah.net
Regards.
Barr Anthony Bells Esq
(Debt Recovery Director)
Securities and Exchange Commission
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Anti-fraud resources:
