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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: Peter Goldstein <petergoldstein@yandex.com>
Reply-To: p.goldstein1@yandex.com
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2015 06:31:54 -0700
Subject: #Let's do This#
My dear
It will very much interest you that I summoned a lot of courage to send this email to you. My client, Engineer Andrew died without a will and the rules of intestacy in this country permits the government to seal up his estate and push them into the government treasury as unclaimed. I have tried to reach his family but all efforts proved void since he was on my legal retainer-ship for just two years before his untimely date.
I am contacting you believing you are related to him and bear the same surname. The estate is worth millions and there are no surviving relatives known to me or to the administrators and the bank.
Note that this claim will be made under a legitimate framework and under the inheritance arbitration act. I have been an inheritance lawyer for over 15years now and if you respond with your willingness to work with me, I will clarify you in details what needs to be done and the sharing pattern.
Regards
Attorney Peter Goldstein
Goldstein and Associates,
London
United Kingdom
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Anti-fraud resources:
