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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Peter Dada <alexmandis75@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dadalawtg@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 19:27:20 +0000
Subject: Dear Friend,
*Dear Friend, ** Firstly let me identify myself without any intention of
equivocation on this business opportunity to you my name is Peter Dada, A
Fiduciary Bank Attorney At Law’s wish to know if we can work together. I
would like you to stand as the surviving beneficiary to my deceased client
Mr. GILBERT ** a real native of your country all so bears the same surname
with who made some deposit of $7.9 Million Dollars to be transferred to any
possible safe account with your good assistance. He died without leaving
any WILL and any registered next of kin and as such the funds now have an
open beneficiary mandate. Kindly get in touch with me for more guide lines
to the repatriation of this fund.*
*Regards*
*Peter*
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Anti-fraud resources:
