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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: "SMITH LEGAL GROUP" <marklegal@yandex.com>
Reply-To: marksmithlawfirm@yandex.ru
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 10:27:04 +0100
Subject: Final notice!
Dear Sir,
This letter is a final warning notice regarding the death of Late
Edward(last name withheld), wife and only daughter while on holiday at
Louisiana USA in the August 2005 Atlantic hurricane Katrina disaster.
According to the laws of England and Wales, section 46 of the
Administration of Estates Act of 1925 (with subsequent amendments). My
late client's bank has issued me a Final written notice to provide his
next-of-kin within 7 days or have his funds declared UNCLAIMED and sent
into government treasury.
I have been in charge of managing his properties here in London for a long
time. There were some of his properties put out for sale before his
death,for which payment has since been made. The proceeds of the sale is
deposited into his local account here. I found your name in some of his
documents and that is why I traced your email through an advanced search.
I am contacting you because you bear the same last-name with my late
client.I want to know if you are in anyway related to my late client.
Regards,
Mark Smith(Attorney at Law)
Principal Partner
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Anti-fraud resources:
