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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:
- "necessary legal documents" (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. )
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- 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.
- jonahjang2015@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Jonah Jang <jonahjang@outlook.com>
Reply-To: jonahjang55@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 03:52:56 +0700
Subject: Your urgent response is needed
Dearest
My name is Jonah Jang a personal lawyer to Mr. Nicolas A. national of your country who died last year (21/5/2017) with his wife and their three Children in a car accident and before this terrible situation he was the chairman of Makenne Diamond Miners Association and he has a bank existed dormant account valued at about US$18.5 million with ECOBANK,
ECOBANK has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin foreign account to Mr. Nicolas where the bank will transfer this funds or have the account and the funds confiscated within the next eleven official working days and since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of Mr. Nicolas extended relatives this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts I decided to track Mr. Nicolas last name over the Internet to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you and I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to Mr. Nicolas since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this US$18.5 million can be paid to your account which will be of an immense benefit to both of us.
This is a genuine, risk free and legal business transaction and I will obtain all necessary legal documents that will back you as the next of kin.
All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
Please contact me through my private email address for details immediately you access this mail. ( jonahjang2015@yahoo.com )
Best regards,
Mr. Jonah Jang
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