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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- gmattius@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: George Mattius <gmttius@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2015 20:52:20 +0200
Subject: Kindly let me know whether you are interested or not in my
proposal
20/10/15
Hello My Dear Friend,
I hope that my proposal will not affect your believes or religion; I am Mr.
George Mattius from Benin Republic, West Africa. I have no option than to
contact you on trust and confidence for this business deal as it requires a
team-work with a foreign partner more especially as you bear the same
last name
with my client.
I represented a client who passed on due to accident and I believe with your
assistance and for the reason that you share the same last name with
my client,
we can receive the investments/deposits of my deceased client (Twenty Five
Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) which he left in
Firm before
his death.
Hence i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be claim from
our bank here because they are planning to convert the amount into the bank
treasury which is according to our banking laws and I do not want that to
happen. Because I know that this money will change the life of a lot of less
privileged people instead of being converted into the bank treasury.
If you are interested with my business proposal, you should send my
e-mail to my
private e-mail; (gmattius@yahoo.com) and my telephone number; further
details of
the business will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail.
Please contact me if you can handle this kind of business, we do not consider
age or sex in this kind of business, what matters to me is someone who
can keep
secret and follows instructions. I am hoping to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Mr. George Mattius
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