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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:
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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)
- ",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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- williamstutu1990@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: williams tutu <williamstutu3333@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:04:45 -0800
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL PROPOSAL.
Email:williamstutu1990@gmail.com
CONFIDENTIAL PROPOSAL.
Hello, My Name is Williams Tutu the Chief Operating Officer of Standard
Bank of South Africa and I am in need of a reliable foreigner to carry out
this important deal.
An account was opened in my bank by one of my customer in the name of MR.
THOMAS BAHIA a Dutch National from Germany who made a fixed deposit of
$11,500,000.00 (Eleven Million, Five hundred Thousand United States
Dollars) and never show up again and I later discovered that he died with
his entire family members on a plane crash and below is the link to the
crash. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/world/middleeast/13libya.html
Now I want to present a foreigner as next of kin to late Thomas so we can
make the claim because if nobody makes the claim, the fund will be taken by
the Government as unclaimed funds and it will be stolen by Government
corrupt officials and that I do not want to happen and you can contact me
if you are interested so I can give you more detailed information about
this transaction.
Thanks
Williams Tutu.
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Anti-fraud resources:
