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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:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- kainglee44chambers@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Barrister Lee Kiang <kiangefirm232@gmail.com>
Reply-To: kainglee44chambers@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 01:04:11 +0700
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL
Hello,
I am Barrister Lee Kiang,an attorney at law.A deceased client of mine
whose last name and yours are the same died as a result of a heart related
condition in march 12th 2007.His health condition was due to the death of all
his family members in the Tsunami disaster on the 26th of December,2004 in
Sumatra Indonesia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
My late client left behind in his bank account a fixed deposit of nineteen
million dollars(19 million dollars),which is about to be confiscated by the
bank if no next of kin is presented.I am the only one who knows he has no next
of kin.This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect
you and i from any breach of law.I await your response.Thanks
EMAIL:kainglee44chambers@gmail.com
Best Regard
Barrister Lee Kiang
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Anti-fraud resources:
