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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.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: HERAZO <mherazo420@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <msg04agent@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2019 13:46:52 -0700
Subject: INFO
--
 DEAR,
I APOLOGISE FOR SENDING AN UNEXPECTED MESSAGE. I AM KEN HERAZO.
A DECEASED CLIENT OF MINE THAT SHARES THE SAME LAST NAME AS YOURS, LOST
HIS
LIFE IN AN AUTO CRASH. HE WAS FROM YOUR COUNTRY, AND WAS A GOLD/DIAMOND
DEALER HERE IN BENIN REPUBLIC. NOW I SEEK YOUR CONSENT TO PRESENT YOU
TO
THE BANK AS A CLOSE RELATIVE OF MY CLIENT SO THAT THE PROCEEDS OF HIS
ACCOUNT VALUED AT 2.5 MILLION EUROS CAN BE PAID TO YOUR ACCOUNT FOR OUR
MUTUAL BENEFIT BEFORE THEY ARE SEIZED BY THE BANK HERE.
PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR FULL ADDRESS, AGE AND PHONE NUMBERS SO THAT I CAN
SEND
YOU MORE DETAILS FOR PROCEDURES AND BETTER UNDERSTANDING; AND IT MUST
REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL.
THANK YOU,
KEN HERAZO
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Anti-fraud resources:
