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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: maryam ellwease <maryamellwease@gmail.com>
Reply-To: corp.maryamxsea@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 01:06:46 +0100
Subject: Honest Heart
Compliment of the day, my name is (Corporal Maryam Ellwease) a female
medical “ARMY†officer working for the United Nations (U.N) peace keeping
troop in Afghanistan on war against terrorism.
I have in my possession the total sum of $5.5 million USD which i made here
in Afghanistan; due to crises and for security reasons I deposited this
fund in a Security Financial Company (SFC) here in Afghanistan, but as it
is I have this believe that the fund is not save as the situation here is
unimagined, unless the money is pulled out from this country.
I need a heart kind and trusted person that could assist me and stand as my
beneficiary to receive this fund and keep it 100% safe or if possible use
it and invest for me in your country so that immediately after my mission
here in Afghanistan I will fly to meet you for other direction and
arrangement of a profitable business which I will also place in your care
as this will also bring a mutual and family relationship. I will offer you
30% of this total money for your assistance after you have received it in
your position.
If you find it confident to cooperate with me please reply back to me so I
can furnish you on how this money will get to your door step.
Thanks in anticipation,
Corp. Maryam
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Anti-fraud resources:
