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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: "Col. Timothy Resse" <tsegayebel@gmail.com>
Reply-To: treese17@ymail.com
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:07:51 +0100
Subject: Can we discuss ?
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Greetings,
I am Col. Timothy Resse with the UN troops. I am currently in Iraq as
an Advisory to the Iraq Military on fight against ISIL Terrorist.
During the fight to retake the Mosul Dam, we discovered the sum of
$10,200.000.00 stocked in a box which I have moved to a secret
location. I will like to move this money as quickly as possible to you
for business purpose. Only if can co operate with me and follow my
instructions as given.
Any way I am willing to settle you with 30% of the total sum. You will
advice me on the business to invest in since I am not business
oriented. I want to move this money to your destination for you to
safe keep it for me until am out of Syria.
Please get back to me so that we can discuss on the way forward.
Col. Timothy Resse
UNHCR-Syrian Arab Republic
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Anti-fraud resources:
