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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:
- "is 100% risk-free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Patrick" <patwilson1@katamail.com>
Reply-To: patrickwilson524@yahoo.fr
Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 18:41:46 +0800
Subject: Please Let's work together
Please Let's work together
Dear Respectful,
The internet has been grossly abused by scam artist and miscreants whose
intention is to hurt. In as much as one should be careful, same time we
should not allow negative to kill the positive potential in a realistic
business, please read my proposal carefully is 100% Risk-free.
My name is patrick wilson a banker by profession.
I want us to make a deal if you can trust me as I trust you before making
this contact. There is this $10.5 million USD in our bank which the owner
is dead without any next of kin. In less that 6 months from now the bank
will close the account and move the money to the government treasury
because it has not been claimed for years as required by the financial
laws of the Republic of Cote D’Ivoire. I want to present you as the neet
of kin to the late owner and we shall share the money 50/50 when
transferred into your account.
please discard this message if you are not interested. One Passionate
appeal, i will make to you is not to discuss this matter with anybody, if
you have any reasons to reject this offer, please and please destroy this
message as any Leakage of this information will be too bad for me at my
work place
Contact me if you are ready so that I will give you full details and the
modalities to actualize the deal.
Regards
patrick wilson
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Anti-fraud resources:
