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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: contactlingcarlyung@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 07:11:57 +0800
Subject: Hello
Hello
I am a banker with a bank in China.I cannot imagine the surprise this
will bring to you,i am contacting you independently of our
investigation and no one is informed of this communication.Our client
died intestate and nominated no successor in title over the
investments made with our bank running into millions of US Dollars.
The essence of this communication with you is to request your interest
so that I can use my position in the bank to establish your
eligibility to assume status of successor in title to the deceased.I
want to know if you are willing to follow up this business seriously
before I can give you more details about this transaction.The proceeds
and the percentages of splitting the proceeds will be revealed to you
as soon as you signify your interest in favor of this business
transaction.
I am a gentleman of honor who has this opportunity and will not let it
go having worked in this sector for several years. This is my only
opportunity and I will not toy with it.
I will also assure you that I know what i am doing and to the best of
my knowledge,the entire project is legitimate and very risk free in as
much as we observe high level of confidentiality and treat this matter
accordingly with the two of us sharing ideas and not missing words.
I want to know if you are willing to follow up this business seriously
before I can give you more details about this transaction however
I Shall be waiting your response and assurance.
Sincerely,
Ling
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Anti-fraud resources:
