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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 "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: jJanine Walton <janinewalton5@gmail.com>
Reply-To: janinewltn@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2023 06:43:56 +0200
Subject: Hello
--
Beloved in Christ.
Greetings my dear,
I am writing this mail to you with heavy tears in my eyes and great
sorrow in my heart.
I am (Mrs.) Janine Walton from South Africa, the wife of Mr. Harry
Smith. My husband worked with Chevron/Texaco in Qatar for twenty years
before he died in the year 2013. We were married for ten years without
a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only
two weeks.
Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my
matrimonial home. When my late husband was alive we deposited the sum
of USD$5.5 Million with a Bank. The Bank and the management just wrote
me as the beneficiary to come forward to sign for the release of this
fund or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive
it on my behalf if I can not come over.
Presently, I'm in a hospital overseas where I have been undergoing
treatment for esophageal cancer. My doctors have told me that I have
only a few months to live. It is my last wish to see this money
distributed to charity organizations. Because relatives and friends
have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live
with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them.
Please let me know if you can TRUST YOU ON THIS to carry out this
favour for me. I will give you the details of this transaction, as
soon as I hear from you.
Yours sincerely
Mrs.Janine Walton
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Anti-fraud resources:
