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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:
- "million pounds" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ferstay Gregg" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ferstaygg@blumail.org>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2015 15:34:47 -0500
Subject: Hello
I am getting in touch with you regarding the estate of a deceased
client placed under our banks management (Lloyds Bank) 12 years ago.I
would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by
as a result of this mail. I contact you independently and no one is
informed of this communication.
The subject matter made a deposit of £14.8 Million Pounds Sterling,
(Fourteen Million,Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds only) in my branch, a
number of notices was sent to him two years later for not operating
the account and we later discovered that he had died of stroke.
What bothers me most is according to the laws of this country at the
expiration of 12 years the funds will revert to UK Government since
nobody came to redeem the funds. Against this background, I have all
the information required to have these funds released by my bank to
you and you will be entitled to 50% of the total funds upon
completion. If interested please get back to me stating your interest.
You might be asking yourself questions like:
How did i get your email?
Why didn’t I do this by myself?
Answers
I got your email from the Family Researchers who we have worked with
over the years.
The reason I am not doing this myself is because I cannot move funds
in my name to my name from my bank because it will raise suspicion.
Please I must state here that this project involves a huge magnitude
of funds and I will need your 100% dedication in this because I have
no time on my side,so please get back to me in receipt of this email.
Your Sincerly
Ferstay W.Gregg
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Anti-fraud resources:
