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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "international court of justice" (not involved with lotteries)
- 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.
- icj20233@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Joan Donoghue <peterobi1977@gmail.com>
Reply-To: icj20233@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2023 12:17:26 +0100
Subject: Hello
28/03/2023
ICJ Netherlands
International Court of Justice
Peace Place
Carnegieplien
2517 KJ The Hague
Netherlands
Email: icj20233@gmail.com
Attention
Re: Your ICJ Universal Protection Certificate referred.
You are listed as one of those whose fund has been trapped in Nigeria
due to bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Please note that the International Court of Justice acting under the
United Nations Organization has introduced and enacted into law a
document called "ICJ Universal Protection Certificate" clears your
fund and transaction from all such bureaucratic bottlenecks and
further payment on your transaction. It also keeps all documents valid
and protects the fund and you from all security investigation.This
document is binding on all countries under the United Nations
Organization and supersedes every other demand from such individual
countries. This document will be processed free for you by our
designated Lawyers in each of the countries under our control.
Once the original certificate is received and confirmed to be true and
legal, your fund will be allowed to drop into your designated account
without further let or hindrance. With your consent and declaration of
intention to receive your fund, we will instruct the applicable Lawyer
to process the document and send the same to you.
Be guided accordingly.
Truly
Joan Donoghue
President of ICJ
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Anti-fraud resources:
