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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ambassador.mary beth leonard" <mohammeddaminu70@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ambassadormaryleonard1@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2023 10:06:23 -0600
Subject: How are you doing today?
Hello,
How are you doing today? I hope you are good, please i am ambassador Mary
Beth Leonard the u.s. Ambassador to the federal republic of Nigeria. I want
to let you know that the paying bank has processed your compensation funded
card and i have collected it from them this morning on your behalf due to
the situation i saw you name in the list of those who have been trying to
get them funds release since many years and have spend a lot of money to
get this done but you have not received your fund yet.
I want to let you know that i will be coming to your country for an
official meeting on Thursday and if you will like i will be bringing your
funded card credited $6million along with me but this time i will not go
through customs because as an ambassador to Nigeria, I am a us government
agent and i have the veto power to go through customs as soon as I am
through with the meeting i shall then proceed to your address.
Or can you come down and collect your card in my office and start making
use of it or should I send it to you by courier if you are ready to pay for
the courier companies fee? meanwhile, the bank told me that they will send
you the pin number directly for security reasons and they also told me that
you can only withdraw $5,000.00 daily and you can also make transfers with
this card for years because they credited $6million inside this card before
it will expire.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
ambassador. Mary Beth Leonard
United states ambassador to Nigeria
Direct cell: +1 609 496 9010
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Anti-fraud resources:
