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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:
- "dear friend" (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: "John W.Desrosiers" <capitallaw09@gmail.com>
Date:
Subject:
Dear Friend,
I am compelled to write you this email for reasons of great urgent
importance. My name is John W.Desrosiers, I am Agent/Solicitor of
Capital Law Firm and FBI Agent.
We discovered a floating funds in a bank linked to your name. After
our diligent investigations, we discovered that the funds is an
over-due payment amount that belongs to you and was stolen from Africa
and lodged into a bank in Australia.
We need to hear from you to repatriate the funds back to your account.
Regards
John W.Desrosiers
Principal Partner (Capital Law)
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Anti-fraud resources:
