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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Sophal Loun" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sophal.loun0@foxmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2015 08:44:14 +0700
Subject: Re:From Mr Sophal,
Greeting,
I am Mr. Sophal Loun, It is my interest to contact you in respect of our client from
your country that opened a draft account in my bank, it is with good
Spirit of heart I opened up this great opportunity to you. Due to my position I will
need your co-operative assistance to surreptitiously move a certain funds of our
deceased client with NO CLANS.
The amount in this account is currently in Millions of United states Dollars. I want to
present you as the beneficiary of the deceased. I will use my position and influence in
our bank to make sure they release this money to you for us to share. If I wait for days
and did not hear from you, I shall look for another person.
Kindly get back to me for more details.
Mr. Sophal.
Executive Director.
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Anti-fraud resources:
