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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "huge deposit" (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)
- "lome togo" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: kwame Martins <kwamemartins1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 00:55:55 +0000
Subject: reply soon
Hello Friend,
Good day, I am contacting you to assist in retrieving a huge deposit
of six Million two Hundred Thousand Dollars left in a bank by my late
client who bears the same surname and also the same nationality with
you. My client wife and their only daughter were involved in a car
accident on 2nd of August 2008, and lost their lives in a car
accident,I am contacting you to assist retrieve his fund deposit left
behind in a bank here in Lome Togo before it gets confiscated by the
bank .If you are interested in making this claim in your name on our
behalf then write me back the soonest for more clarified details in
respect to the claim of his fund before its get confiscated.Thanks
>From his personal attorney Kwame Martins.Waiting for your reply
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Anti-fraud resources:
