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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: ISA INUWA <isainuwa22@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2022 21:48:04 +0100
Subject: GET BACK SOON
Attn:
We have decided to contact you immediately because we caught one of
our staff trying to present a lady as your representative to receive
your US$10.5M dollars. But when we started asking her some sensitive
questions concerning the fund, she could not give the correct answer.
So we have her arrested and she confessed about her involvement with
the staff. The two of them are now in police detention. You are
therefore to get back with your details to enable us start the
processing of your fund release.
I wish you plenty of luck.
Best regards,
Isa Inuwa
Foreign Remittance Department,
United Bank for Africa
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Anti-fraud resources:
