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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:
- "dear beloved," (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Pastor.John Meat" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pastorjohnmeat2015@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 03:30:23 -0400
Subject: Good day
Dear Beloved,
I am sorry to intrude into your private life today but i appeal to you to consider this proposal which i believe its the will of God.
My name is pastor John Meat a priest with the Catholic Church and a recognized member of sales 2 world for refugee. I am in contact with you because of a young refugee orphan in my congregation who lost his entire family to the civil war in Libya in 2013. Presently the young orphan needs a sincere and God fearing guardian who can stand as a foreign beneficiary to his inheritance which is in a tune of Sixteen Million United States Dollars ($16,000,000.00 USD) that was lodged with a registered Security company Vault by his late father which was meant for foreign investment purpose before his demise.
I seek your sincere consent to consider this proposal and assist this young orphan as your personal child and help in making his dream a reality to see that his inheritance is released and also making sure his education dream comes to past.
As a true Priest i shall make all formalities and documents available to you once i hear from you to consider to help the young orphan as your child and take care of his inheritance.
Thanks, pastor.John Meat
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Anti-fraud resources:
