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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 message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- kspagos@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. jay frank" <jayfrank0130@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 6 May 2015 06:46:07 -0700
Subject: GREETINGS!
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Greetings,
This is JAY FRANK, the Personal account officer to my late client, a
national of your country who died as a result of car accident on the
30th of April 2005 here in my country Republic of Togo in West Africa
and after all investigation even with the relevant embassy has
yielded no results. I hereby solicit for your immediate response and
positive commitment and
efforts to facilitate the fund transfer of $7.5M to you as the next of
Kin before they get confiscated by the bank. Get back to me for more
details via my alternate email address: kspagos@aol.com, i anticipate
your swift response.
Regards,
Mr JAY FRANK.
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Anti-fraud resources:
