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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mark Ndudi <wiwaegoma027@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mak37045@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2021 02:33:03 +0100
Subject: PERSONALLY TO YOU
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Hello,
This is Mark Ndudi. I had a client who was a foreigner that lived in
my country but he died a couple of years back and before his death he
deposited the sum of $31.5 M in a Finance Company in my country
without a next of kin indicated but i can present you as his next of
kin.
I am compelled to do this because I would not want the finance house
to push my client's funds into their treasury as unclaimed
inheritance. I have decided you'll have 30% of the total amount for
your role. If you are interested do let me know asap so I can give you
a comprehensive detail on what we are to do.
Sincerely,
Mark Ndudi.
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Anti-fraud resources:
