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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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)
- "diplomatic immunity" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "James Mills" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jamesmills90100@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2017 09:02:08 -0700
Subject: Pressing Need
Greetings,
I know you will be surprised to read my email. Apart from being surprised, you may be skeptical to reply me based on what is happening on the internet, one has to be very careful as a lot of scammers are out there to defraud innocent citizens and this has made it very difficult for people to believe anything that comes through the internet. My name is James Mills. I am a member of the US ARMY Team deployed to Iraq because of the current ISIS problems. I and my team mates discovered trunk boxes containing American dollars. Am looking for a trust worthy individual who will assist me to receive the funds in his country before l will come over and join the person.
The money will be transferred to you as Gold/precious stones using French diplomatic immunity. You shall take 50% and keep 50% of the money for me until i come to meet you in your country soon. Indicate your interest and servitude to my intention urgently.
As soon as i receive your response, i will send more details to you.
Best Regards
James Mills
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Anti-fraud resources:
