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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Edwin Dennard <john0234747178@gmail.com>
Reply-To: edwindennard2020@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 04:15:28 -0700
Subject: Urgent assistance to export rough alluvial diamonds
Dear Friend..
It is my pleasure to send you this proposal with the sole intention that it
will be mutually be of interest and profit to you and us.
I represent a group of small scale diamond diggers from Sierra Leone and we
have 5773 carats of a variety of uncut rough diamonds outside Sierra Leone
for onward transaction to any potential partner you will introduce or
connect with us.
Because of the outbreak of EBOLA in Sierra Leone, foreign buyers of
diamonds are no more coming to Sierra Leone for diamonds. So even though we
have quality diamonds in such large quantity, we are virtually starving.
Therefore, we have come outside Sierra Leone to look for prospective
foreign partners, who will help us to get money for our diamonds. Please be
mindful that we do not have the UN mandatory Kimberley Processing
Certificates( KPC) for our diamonds, so we need mutual assistance for all
of us to benefit financially.
Please contact me urgently so that I can give you more details to enable
you do business with us.
Warmest regards
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Anti-fraud resources:
