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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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- br_mathiasesq@usa.com (Outblaze.com, Hong Kong; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Mathias Davies <br.mattias0012@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 11:47:38 -0700
Subject: WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU
Dear Friend,
My name is Barrister Matthias, I'm sending this brief letter to solicit
your support. I had a client who is an American Citizen and his name is Mr.
Fred Winkler age 80, he was a director of Ocean Rock Venture dealer in
magnesite minerals here in Austria and also a Gas dealer in Russia. He
died with his wife on March 21 on board China Eastern flight MU5375
travelling from Kunming to Guangzhou.
He deposited the sum of US$8.5M in one of the legendary banks in America. I
have tried all I could to get in touch with any of his family members but
no way because he had no child. And the recent death of COVID 19 killed his
only brother in China last year.
So I want to make you a member of the board of directors of his company to
apply to the bank as his Business partner so the bank can issue a Card of
Mr. Fred Winkler in your name as the new signatory to enable you withdraw
the money from the card.
I will provide all the legal documents to back up the claim and the
guidelines on how to contact the bank and we have to do this with trust,
because I don't want the bank to transfer the fund into the Government
treasury account as an unclaimed fund, so I need your response.
Kindly reach me via.. br_mathiasesq@usa.com
Warm Regards,
Barrister Matthias
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Anti-fraud resources:
