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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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Chidinma Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ctm.williamsjr@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2016 17:38:25 +0100
Subject: You are rehabilitated.
Attn: Sir/Madam,
This is to bring to your notice that I am delegated from the United Nations To the Federal Republic of Nigeria to supervise the payment of $1,550,000.00 (ONE MILLION Five HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLAR) each to some scam/fraud victims. You are listed and approved for this payment as a victims to be paid this amount after your names and details was mentioned to our security department by a scam artist presently under investigation.
Please ignore this email if you have not been scammed before but respond immediately if you are a victim of scam related activity.
This payments is been supervised by Top official of the African Union, For the release of your compensation money You are hereby advised to respond immediately for details of how you can claim your compensation money.
Mr. Chidinma Williams will direct you on how to receive your money as soon as you establish contact with him through his contact listed above.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Chidinma Williams
Phone...+234 811 165 0368.
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Anti-fraud resources:
