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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:
- "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. )
- "diplomatic immunity" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "a diplomat " ("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.
- 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: "JERRY HILL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jerryhill7@zoho.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2018 04:34:58 +0100
Subject: Delivery to your door step
Sir.
Your payment entitlement has been officially approved after all the satisfactory evidence of proof shown in your payment file, and in pursuance of our vision of excellence, The British financial services approved payment to you since our records has shown the authenticity of your claim for this funds and our international intelligent payment monitoring network also confirms that your payment have been held up by a few corrupt officials who has been demanding numerous fees from you to conclude this transaction.
Based on the above, the payment will be delivered to you in cash by a diplomat attached to the British Embassy in your country. This arrangement comes to you with a favorable condition of no upfront payment in advance except payment of 12,000 pounds on his arrival at your local airport to enable him obtain a diplomatic immunity non inspection tag from our home office here in the united kingdom which will enable him move the two boxes out of the airports without inspection by any federal agencies, This fee will be sent by western union money transfer to the Diplomatic immunity agents in London on your confirmation of his arrival at your local airport.
Kindly provide us with your door step address to enable him deliver the Money to you as soon as he is out from the airport.
You are also required to provide us with your telephone number and your local airport telephone numbers to enable us put in place a security arrangement on ground before his arrival regarding the magnitude of fund involved.
The diplomats telephone number will be sent to you on your acceptance to this arrangement for normal formalities between both of you before his arrival.
Thanks for your anticipated corporation.
Jerry Hill
Annex officer
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Anti-fraud resources:
