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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:
- "is highly confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR. VICTOR NETO" <noreply@victorneto.co.za>
Reply-To: "MR. VICTOR NETO" <victorneto2020@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2016 05:48:48 +0900 (JST)
Subject: PLEASE REPLY WITH YOUR CONTACT NUMBER
Hello Dear.
My name is (Mr. Victor Neto) from Angola, my late father was a great politician in Angola but he used to visit South Africa always when he was still alive, he deposited millions of rand in a private security & finical firm that i have just moved to South Africa.
Meanwhile i just arrived to South Africa last week for investment purpose, i need a capable business man or woman who can assist me to invest this fund in a lucrative business, who will be my business panther if you are interested send me your profile so that i will go through it and if i am satisfied we will arrange how to meet in person and we will take it from there.
Please for security reasons this is highly confidential no 3rd party on this.
I wait for your response.
Regard
Victor Neto.
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Anti-fraud resources:
