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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- patrickmzumbe@email.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Mzumbe" <marcel.gusty@antee.cz>
Reply-To: patrickmzumbe@email.com
Date: Wed, 16 May 2018 03:42:39 +0200
Subject: 2018/05/16
--
Dear Friend
My name is Patrick Mzumbe, I am an account officer in charge of the
private
investment section of a bank in the RSA whose name i will unveil later
on when I
am confident that I can trust you. I am contacting you in a business
that will be
of benefit to both of us. I need your urgent assistance in transferring
the sum of
$15.5Million to your bank account.
This money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for years now without
anybody coming for the claim of it. I want to release the money to you
as a
business partner to our deceased customer Mr.Christian Eich (the account
owner) who died a long with his supposed Next of Kin since 31 January
2000.You can confirm the genuineness of the business by visiting this
web site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
By indicating your interest I will send you the full details on how the
business
will be executed. Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete
if you are
not interested.
I expect immediate indication of your interest by sending an email
through my
alternative e-mail (patrickmzumbe@email.com)
Best wishes to you and your family.
Mr Patrick Mzumbe
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Anti-fraud resources:
