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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:
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "million united state 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)
- "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.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.James F.Entwistle" <mike.schnack@cox.net>
Reply-To: cejemba2@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 May 2017 07:12:32 -0700
Subject: '''I want your urgent response'''
Please i want to inform you that your fund was brought to my desk this morning because the director of the western union here in Nigeria said that they will divert your fund to the Government Treasury account just because you failed to pay for their fee which is just $155.00 only.In the file they have forwarded to me one Mr Micheal Restov has forwarded to them his information for the claims of the fund saying he is your relative that you have been dead a long time ago as he stands the next to make this cliam as the only survive member of your family,in this regards we want to know if this is true before we make any wrong decission in leting him stake a claim to this fund.
But i told them to wait until i hear from you today to know if his cliams are real so that i will know the reason why you rejected such amount of money $5Million United State dollars which will change your life just because of the charges fee $155.00
I want your urgent response as soon as you receive this email for more details
Mr.James F.Entwistle.
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Anti-fraud resources:
