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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.
- 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.
- ws.siv@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Djabiri Talatou <djabiritalatou@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ws.siv@aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2023 09:45:52 +0100
Subject: Card
--
Hi,
It is a great pleasure to inform you that I have succeeded in
retrieving your total funds back from the Department of Treasury where
it was froze up for the past few months ago. I converted the whole
fund into an ATM card since it's the only safe way of sending the
whole funds to you with any hindrances or Authority stopping it on the
way to your destination, and I advised my secretary Mr. William Luis
to release the ATM card valued sum of Ten Million and Seven Hundred
Thousand Dollars to you. So write him through his Email:
(ws.siv@aol.com) and forward your details to him such as below so that
he will go to the Global Max Vault Security Company where I deposited
the ATM card for security reason, to have the ATM card from their
security department and then mail it to you today.
Full Name:..
Full Delivery Address:..
Postal Code...
Country:..
Telephone:..
Occupation...
Thanks,
Mrs. Rose Farley
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Anti-fraud resources:
