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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 "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: marous fatim <marousfatim7@gmail.com>
Reply-To: joyobed452@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2021 12:31:00 +0000
Subject: DEAREST ONE
I am Mrs Marous Fatim the wife of Mr Harry Pointer Marous, my husband
worked with the Chevron/Texaco in Cote d ivoire for twenty years
before he died in the year 2001. We were married for ten years without
a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only
four days.
Since his death I decided not to re-marry. When my late husband was
alive he deposited the sum of US .(Three Million Five Hundred Thousand
U.S.Dollars) with a Bank in Cote d ivore. Presently, this money is
still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the
beneficiary to come forward to sign for the release of this money or
rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my
behalf if I can not come over.
As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of my
attorney who is in Cote d ivoire as he will be the one to assist you
in laying claims for this funds.
Your’s Truly,
Mrs.Marous Fatim
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Anti-fraud resources:
