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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:
- "consignment " (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.
Fraud email example:
From: western union office transfer <ajanonf@gmail.com>
Reply-To: wofficetransfer556@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2023 02:33:49 -0800
Subject: ATTTENTION
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United States Treasure Department.
Address:1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington DC 20220, United States.
FINAL NOTIFICATION FROM THE US TREASURY DEPARTMENT!!!
Good day to you!!!
After the meeting we had last week concerning all pending payments and
abandoned properties we the Managements of United States Treasury
department have decided to carry out the work of ensuring that all
pending and abandoned payment's are release to the owners.
when we got to our warehouse in search for these packages and those
they belong to, we found the $11 million USD consignment box and your
name Name and your number
was written on the parcel/consignment box.
As it is now,all necessary arrangements regarding this fund has been
made fully and we have paid and have obtained all necessary documents
that is needed for this transaction inorder to avoid any interference
from Any office or any official once the delivering commence.
I'm contacting you for you to claim this fund and to tell us when you
will be ready for claiming your package.
Note that you have to come up with your full informations like
a) FULL NAME___
b) HOME ADDRESS___
c) COUNTRY___
d)PHONE NUMBER___
e) EMAIL ADDRESS___
Sincerely,
Steven M. Terner
I'm waiting to hear back from you.
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Anti-fraud resources:
