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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "certified bank draft" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- andrewmarthains224@yahoo.fr (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "PRINCE JOHN EZE" <billmail@purcell.biz>
Reply-To: andrewmarthains224@yahoo.fr
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:13:29 +0100
Subject: Contact my Secretary
Dear Friend,
I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting the fund transferred
with the help of a new partner from Ukraine, I want you to contact my secretary
on the below information his name is Mr. ANDREW MARTHAINS
email: andrewmarthains224@yahoo.fr
contact him to send you the total sum of (£850,000.00GBP) eight hundred
fifty thousand pounds in an international certified bank draft, which I
kept for your compensation.Therefore I gave him the sum of $100 to register
the draft with a courier service that will deliver it to you,so you can
contact him now and give him your full information to send the bank draft
to you. Do not fail to update me as soon as you receive it,
so we can share the joy together.
Best Regards
PRINCE JOHN EZE
Anti-fraud resources:
