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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:
- "million pounds" (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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Nathaniel Klaus <relay06@acewater.co.jp>
Reply-To: Nathaniel Klaus <nathanielklaus23@gmail.com>
Date: 18 Nov 2021 18:34:18 +0100
Subject: Get back to me asap.
Hello,
My name is Nathaniel Klaus, I am the personal account officer to late (Dr. Adly Radke) who
died with his wife and their only child in a car crash. I contact you because i know this will
be an immense benefit to both of us. I discovered the Sum of £10.6M (Ten million and six
hundred thousand Pounds Sterling) in my late client account.
The choice of contacting you arose from the geographical nature of your country and your last
name, particularly due to the sensitivity of this transaction and the confidentiality herein.
Now our bank has been waiting for any of the relatives to come-up for the claim. Since i have
been unsuccessful in locating the relatives, I seek your consent to present you as the Will
Beneficiary to the deceased because you have same surname with him so that the proceeds of this
account valued £10.6 Million Pounds can be paid to you because if nobody comes for the claim
then the total fund will be divert to the government treasury.
Note that after the successful completion of this transaction the total funds will be share in
these percentages, 50% for me and 50% to you. All I require now is your honest Co-operation and
Trust to enable us see this transaction through. If you know that you are willing to handle
this transaction so that we can achieve this golden opportunity that comes our way, kindly get
back to me for more details so that we can proceed without any delay.
Regards and waiting to hear from you.
Nathaniel
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Anti-fraud resources:
