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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:
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "mark.joseph111@outlook.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: mark joseph <mj99984@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mark.joseph111@outlook.com
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 23:09:39 +0100
Subject: From:Mark Joseph....
Compliment of the day to you, I sent you a mail a couple of months ago
about a transaction and haven’t heard from you since then. The message
was to solicit your partnership to transfer the sum of {Three hundred
and twenty million US Dollars only} deposited in UBS Bank Zurich
Switzerland to any of an offshore account with your assistance acting
as Beneficiary or Next-of-Kin to the funds. I shall send you more
information and procedures when I receive a positive response from
you.
I look forward to hearing from you with this private
email(mark.joseph111@outlook.com)
Yours sincerely.
Mark Joseph.
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Anti-fraud resources:
