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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:
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Gilbert Wusa <emmaludwig52@gmail.com>
Reply-To: infowusagikbertk@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2022 02:42:22 -0700
Subject: Hello
--
Greetings,
My name is Mr. Gilbert Wusa, I work with a prime bank in Turkey. I
would need your consent to present you as next of kin to our late
customer MR.HEATH LIAM who died during the March 11th 2011 Earthquake
disaster in Japan while on a business trip. He was a real estate
tycoon who deposited Twenty-Six Million Great British Pounds in our
Bank. He died without any registered next of kin as he was long
divorced and had no child. I was his account officer and have in my
possession all the documents required to present you as his
beneficiary next of kin.
I contacted you due to the need to involve a foreigner because the
management of the bank cannot approve these funds to an indigenous
name hence former owner of the fund was a foreigner and those funds
can only be approved to a foreigner who has correct information of the
account which I would give to you later. Upon completion of the
transaction, 50% of the money will be for me, 40% for you while 10%
shall be given to two top bank officials that will help us perfect the
transaction to successful completion.
This is real and such business goes on in Banks all over the world
without people knowing. Let us utilize this opportunity because it
does not always come. A lot of customers open private accounts with
different Banks without the knowledge of their families and when they
die, such money will be lost to the Bank forever unless someone comes
to claim it. This is how a lot of Bank Directors make so much money
silently. On your confirmation of this message and indicating your
interest, I will furnish you with more details.
Please endeavor to provide me with the following so that we can
discuss in detail.
1) Mobile phone numbers
2) Full name
3) Contact address and occupation
I hope to get your response as soon as possible.
Best Regards
Mr. Gilbert
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