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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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "jeff.roberts@foxmail.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: "UNITED NATION" <cpalavecino@gbcinco.cl>
Reply-To: unn-unitednations@foxmail.com
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2016 02:57:03 +0200
Subject: FROM THE UNITED NATIONS..TREAT AS URGENT
=
=
To your urgent Attention
=
This is to official inform you that the meeting we have been having with Mr=
. Jim Yong Kim,the World Bank President which includes all the current serv=
ing Presidents of Seven continents for the past Three (3) Weeks finally end=
ed two days ago and the issue discussed on the Congress was on how to Disbu=
rse and Compensate all the Scam Victims out of the total sum of $116,000,00=
0.00 (One Hundred and Sixteen Million US Dollars) that was so far RECOVERED=
from the arrested Fraudsters.
=
we are contacting you following the reports we received from Special Anti-F=
raud International Monitoring Group which submitted your Name/email to us a=
nd you have been allocated with a sum of US$2,000,000.00 (Two Million US Do=
llars only) as your Compensation.
=
You are therefore advised to contact our Representative Agent. MR.JEFF ROBE=
RTS who is in position to release your Compensation to you with the email b=
elow:
=
Contact Name: MR.JEFF ROBERTS Email Address: jeff.roberts@foxmail.com
=
Yours Sincerely,
=
Deputy Secretary-General
UNITED NATION=20
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Anti-fraud resources:
