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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- 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.
- peterdonald988@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: DONALD PETER <odeypeter325@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Peterdonald988@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2023 01:42:09 -0700
Subject: OFFICIAL PAYMENT
OFFICIAL PAYMENT UNIT WASHINGTON DC
RELEASE CODE No: 02253
Dear Beneficiary,
Please be informed that your long awaited funds payment in the tune of
$10.850M (Ten Million eight hundred and fifty thousand United States
dollars) has finally been approved. But, it has also been brought to
our notice that a gentle man by
the name Raymond Anderson has just forwarded a new banking details
claiming he is your next of kin and you are dead by Corona virus in
Spain, so here comes the big question:
Did you authorize the above mentioned name to claim your funds?
Are you truly dead or alive? Is Raymond Anderson your next of kin? if
not kindly reconfirm this information and get back to us with the
below information for
verification as the funds wire transfer will be done within 72hours
from this notice:
Your full name:
Current home address:
Country/Nationality:
Current phone number:
Next of kin name:
We await your urgent response so that we can proceed with your $10.850M payment.
Yours faithfully,
Mr DONALD PETER
Private Email: Peterdonald988@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
