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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:
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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: "Edward Gibbon" <msg@isp.com>
Reply-To: edegibbon@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 23 May 2018 05:53:27 -0700
Subject: Ref: DPROFEU/27JK/18856.
Ref: DPROFEU/27JK/18856
Hello,
In the course of our general auditing and account revision of this end of the year 2017-2018,we discovered that the bank accounts belonging to some beneficiaries have been changed on the basis that the owners have died some time last year or have given out an authorization note of change of data.
After the investigations however, it was revealed that there are foreigners who are collaborating with retired staffs to make these changes illegally without the knowledge of the beneficiary.
This communication is to inform you that we have programmed your payment to be receive by you. We have worked out all the modality for you to receive your funds without any further lapses.
The 6,000,000.00 Million US Dollars funds is currently in our corresponding Federal Reserve Bank of United States of America and for security purpose and to avoid impostors to know the way about the funds.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as I look forward to helping you receive your funds without any hitches.
I am expecting your valued response with your current information.
Regards,
Edward Gibbon
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Anti-fraud resources:
