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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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- roldharm22@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Roland Harm <ueltoncampos@adv.oabsp.org.br>
Reply-To: roldharm22@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 00:44:51 -0300 (BRT)
Subject: Attention Please!
Hello Dear Sir/Madam.
My name is Roland Herm, A private lawyer in Ghana. I am contacting you in regards to a deceased client Engr. Nicholas Feschuk of California USA who was a contractor with Shell Petroleum Development Company(SPDC) in Ghana.He was a foreign contractor and he deposited the sum of $5.4 MILLION U.S dollars with a bank here in Ghana HSBC Bank plc.
He died in a plane crash along with his wife and only child on his way for a short vacation trip with his family some years ago, to further clear your mind on his death you can click on this link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
I have sought for his relatives wirh the help of some private United States investigators and could not locate them The bank where he deposited the funds have given me automatism to present his next of kin to claim his fund else the funds will be confiscated
If you are willing to carry out the transfer, you should send me your private email address and telephone number for me to tell you more about the transaction or you should respond to my private email address: roldharm22@gmail.com
Thanks ,
Barrister Roland
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Anti-fraud resources:
