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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: "Michael Wilson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michael.wilson@onet.eu>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 16:51:13 -0700
Subject: HI DEAR
HI DEAR,
AM MICHAEL WILSON WORKING WITH THE BANK OF NEW YORK, GET BACK TO ME AS SOON YOU RECEIVE THIS MAIL. IS ABOUT YOUR LONG AWAITED OVER DUE PAYMENT WHICH IS PRESENTLY WITH OUR CORRESPONDENT BANK IN EUROPE FOR FURTHER CREDIT TO US FOR FINAL REMITTANCE TO YOUR DESIGNATED BANK.
UNKNOWN TO YOU SOME OFFICERS ARE TRYING TO DIVERT THE PAYMENT TRANSMISSION BY SUBMITTING A DIFFERENT ACCOUNT TO THE CENTRAL BANK OF ITALY TO PROCESS FOR ONWARD TRANSMISSION TO THE WRONG BANK ACCOUNT THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU.
PLEASE THIS INFORMATION SHOULD BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL TILL I ASSIST YOU RECEIVE THE PAYMENT. GET BACK TO ME FOR MORE DETAILS.
YOU ARE ADVISED TO REVERT BACK TO ME AS SOON YOU RECEIVE THIS NOTIFICATION AND FORWARD YOUR RECEIVING BANKING DETAILS, YOUR ADDRESS, DIRECT CELL PHONE NUMBER AS TO ENABLE ME ADVISE CENTRAL BANK OF ITALY OF THE RIGHTFUL BENEFICIARY`S ACCOUNT.
I AWAIT FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
MICHAEL WILSON.
TEL: 613 354 4426.
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Anti-fraud resources:
