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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: Senate Committee <test@papacu.ro>
Reply-To: godblessnduru@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2017 14:33:33 +0300
Subject: This Was Approved For You
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Hello
I have been directed to contact you today by the Department of
Compensation Fund Payment. This is because you have been approved to
receive a compensation from the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign
Debts. It was established that you rendered assistance to some person(s)
in the past who sought your help to assist them move out a certain sum
of money out of their country to your own country for business
investment. However, after using you and subjected you to spend lots of
money to achieve this purpose, the fund was not released to you as they
promised. In the process, you lost some monies and did not receive any
dime up to date.
This particular amount of money has been
approved to be paid to you as compensation for all your past efforts in
helping to realize the business transaction to enable you recover what
you have lost in the past and help you start your life afresh.
You are hereby advised to reply this message and indicate your interest
to receive this sum of money.
Best regards and wishes,
Senate Committee Chairman
Local and Foreign Debts Payment
Africa.
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Anti-fraud resources:
