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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "remain blessed" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Lois Bruno" <jrprivate03@gmail.com>
Reply-To: loisbruno202@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 08 Jun 2019 03:58:55 +0100
Subject: Greetings..
Greetings;
I am Mrs. Lois Bruno from Sierra Leone living in Guinea Conakry seeking yo=
ur urgent assistance to export 800kgs of Gold bar deposited with a security=
company here in Guinea Conakry. The 800kgs of Gold bars belongs to my late=
husband (Alhaji Moustafa Ahmed Bruno) who was then the assistant chairman =
of local miners committee but passed away in 2016 from a heart related illn=
ess. The gold bars were deposited in my name in 2015 as a family treasure j=
ust few months before his demise. More details on how your assistance is ne=
eded would be given when I get a reply from you. =
Thank you and remain blessed till I hear back from you swiftly.
=
Yours sincerely
Mrs. Lois Bruno
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Anti-fraud resources:
