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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 orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Anderson Family <andersonfamily2012@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: amrs.veronica@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 10:11:54 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Can we invest in your country?
Peace be unto you. I am writing you because of the heavy sorrow in my heart and what I am passing through with my kids. My late husband was recently killed in the month of May 2011 during the war in my country. I am contacting you because I have no other choice than to look for someone who I will trust to help me save the future of my children.
My late husband was deposited with my name the sum of 9.4 million us dollar in a Security Company, and The money was deposited coded under arrangement which is secret as family valuables and art treasure. This means that the security company does not know the exact content of the box .I am writing you because I want you to help me in securing the money inside the box for the future of my children.
I am willing to give you 30% of the total money when you have successfully secured the box out from the security company to your country, for assisting me and my children. If after reading the above message and it touched you in your heart to help me and children in securing their future in your country do forward me your full details so that we can proceed.
I look forward to your urgent response,
Thanks, Yours sincerely
Mrs.Veronica
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Anti-fraud resources:
