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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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "million united states 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)
- "very confidential" (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 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.
- mzembiwalter@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Walter mzembi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mzembiwalter@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2019 14:28:20 -0700
Subject: KINDLY READ AND GET BACK TO ME.
Dear Sir,
My name is Walter Mzembi , I am a former Minister in Zimbabwe
but presently living in South Africa. I am seeking a reliable partner to help me
out of an imminent debacle as my business interests is currently under serious
threat from government authorities from Zimbabwe in collaboration with other
financial agencies.
Few months ago, Financial investigators in Zimbabwe have lunched series of
search into my business concerns claiming that I established dummy companies
which i used to transfer funds out of my country as a serving Minister under
Mugabe. Now they are trying to link this to a money laundering offence to have
my funds confiscated. They have already frozen my bank accounts and seized
my properties across Southern Africa. To this end, I am seeking reliable
individual who can help us to hold some of our funds for its security.
I have confidentially discussed this issue with my wife and we agreed to find a
reliable foreign partner to deal with. We currently have Fourty-five Million
United States Dollars kept in a facility in South Africa.We thus propose to do
business with you standing in as the beneficiary of the funds to enable us
transfer it out of South Africa.
I want to assure you that the procedure will be very transparent and the fund is
of no risk value.I will give you 20% of the funds for your assistance
while i will
use the balance for investment in your country. I have documents to cover it as
a legitimately earned funds. I will give you full detail of our mode
of operation
if I receive your positive response .
Contact me through this private channels for further details . My telephone
number is +27640481771 . email address is mzembiwalter@gmail.com,
I advice that you keep this proposal very confidential. Let me know if you will
be of assistance.
Yours Sincerely,
Walter mzembi
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