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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- ceoprivatemailboxes@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "David Moore" <davidmoore417@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: usfederalreservebank02@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2018 01:56:47 -0300
Subject: LET US SAVE THIS ACCOUNT
Dear Sir/Madam,
I trust you are doing great today with your family and business! I am Dr.
David Moore a director with one of the top banks here in London UK. I am
contacting you to propose a business cooperation that will be of mutual
benefit to both of us and requiring absolute trust and total
confidentiality.
To get down to brass tacks, I need you to accommodate a large volume of
funds for investment into your industrial sector or any other viable
sector in your country.
I need a foreigner without any prior link to our country for this task for
security reasons and you will be handsomely rewarded for your efforts as
well. Reply to my email address at ( ceoprivatemailboxes@gmail.com ) for
further details or you call/whatsapp me on +44 7978 368673.
Regards,
Dr. David Moore.
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Anti-fraud resources:
