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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "the consignment" (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)
- "can i trust you?" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "M.J" <morgan.johnson111@us.army.mil>
Reply-To: morgan.johnson111@aol.com
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2019 02:07:18 -0700
Subject: .........................
Dear Friend
I am sorry to encroach into your privacy in this manner my name is Morgan Johnson an American soldier serving in Afghanistan my reason for contacting you is that i would want to confide in you that i have in my possession the sum of $4,980,000.00USD (Four million Nine hundred and eighty thousand American Dollars)the above sum was given to me as my share after a raid and to conceal this amount of money became a problem for me. I am ready to compensate you with 40% of the funds the only thing i require from you is for you to help me receive this funds once i move the money out of Afghanistan because i am in a war zone. I have already mapped out strategy to move the money out of Afghanistan to your location with the aid of the diplomat and the diplomat certainly does not know the real contents of the consignments and he believes that it belongs to a Late German-American soldier Master Sgt. Micheal Riley who was attacked and killed by the Taliban by small arms fire on June 25th 2019 (https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/master-sgt-michael-b-riley/6568782) and before giving up he trusted me to hand over the package to his family.
With my present arrangement/procedure to evacuate this money out of here i am very positive that within two weeks it will get to your location. I shall provide you with the full details as soon as i receive your response. Right now i am very careful with the way i communicate so as to reduce any kind of risk until this money is finally in your custody. I will be communicating with you through email alone because our phone conversation might be monitored by unit bugs,i am doing this on trust and so i would want you to put aside any act of greed as we have a lot to gain in this project.Can I trust you? When you receive this message please kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest.
Respectfully,
Captain Morgan Johnson
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