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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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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: Christopher Daniel <christiedan99@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Christopher Daniel <christdan99@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2018 01:12:57 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Greetings to you sir/madam
Greetings to you sir/madam.
I am Christopher Daniels. I am 18 years old. I lost mother during the war in my country Cote d'Ivoire. My father died last year of a food poison by my uncle who has already claimed everything my father had. He is seeking to kill me too hence I remain the only threat to him. I am helpless and there is no justice for me. I am hiding and looking how to save my life.I got your through my internet search and contacted you because of the inheritance funds that my late left for me in the bank. I am the next of kin to this fund and the fund is subject to onward foreign transfer. I have nobody oversea to contact, so I contacted you strongly on trust and demand that you be my foreign partner. I will provide you with the documents of the fund and you will bring account where the fund will be transferred. You will send me an invitation letter to come over to your country to stay with you, invest the money by your directives and also continue my education. I will
offer you 25% of the fund. The fund is in amount of Five Million US Dollars. Would you assist me?
Chris.
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Anti-fraud resources:
