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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.
- uspisoffice0@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Barksdale" <marketing@opalmail.net>
Reply-To: uspisoffice00@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:12:12 -0800
Subject: Delivery Update
The United States Postal Inspection Service protects the U.S. Postal Service and enforces the law that ensure public safety within the nation's mail system.
From the United States Postal Inspection Service. We intercepted a parcel few week ago, after proper investigation, the legitimacy was confirmed. Get back to us for mailing your parcel to you. Please re-confirm your full name. Contact email: uspisoffice0@gmail.com
The parcel content will be disclosed to you upon your return with your full name.
Kindest Regards
Gary Barksdale
Chief Postal Inspector.
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Anti-fraud resources:
