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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:
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Robert Peterson <baritaylor4@gmail.com>
Reply-To: willj_108d@rediffmail.com
Date: Wed, 11 May 2022 03:48:15 -0700
Subject: UPDATE FOR YOU
--
Dear Beneficiary
Good day and sorry for my belated email to you because this
transaction is expected to complete before June 3rd 2022. Our office
has been mandated by the International Monitory Funds (IMF)
Compensation Commission (IMFCC) to arrange your compensation fund of
$2,500,000.00 to you and we have written you several time without
adequate response from you, since you have instructed one of your
relatives Mr.Khan Schomaker to get the compensation fund claim due to
your sickness.Meanwhile he has been trying to get the fund after
signing every necessary documents in his name suddenly we did not hear
from him.We need to submit the reported to the panels for their
recommendations to the IMF governing council for approval.
To date the Commission had paid out about $47.8 billion in
compensation awards to successful claimants. The remaining undramatic
were still outstanding till date in which your name is still among
those that fall into this Category "B" Claims (Individual Claims for
Damages above US$100,000). In this case you are advised to keep us
updated so as to finalize the release of the compensation to your
cousin in your favor. We are sorry for any inconvenience that the
banks and any other palatals might have cost you.
We would appreciate your urgent response to this mail for proper payment.
Yours Truly
Robert Peterson
Head of Operation IMF
Benin Republic
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Anti-fraud resources:
