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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:
- "huge amount of money" (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.)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447031864550 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- jerryntai12@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Dagogo Thomas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomasdagogo02@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 17:50:33 -0700
Subject: From: Barr.Thomas Dagogo
Dear Sir
I am Barrister Dagogo Thomas. My client before her death deposited a very huge amount of money with a trust firm in Spain but died with her family of 4 without anyone as her next of kin, and since that I have made several efforts locating anyone close to her which proved abortive.
Right now I want you to get back to me so we can discuss on how to claim this fund since it has no atom of risk involved. I said this because I will guide you and making all the necessary changes in your name to enable the bank pay the money into any of your norminated acoount.
I know that you might be asking yourself few questions such as: why me?,why can't he claim it and keep it to himself and his family? etc. I want you to know that the reason why I cant claim it myself is that they already know me as her lawyer while she was alive and I do not want to use anyone from my country to claim this fund for security reason and to avoid anyone around me knowing the source of my riches after investing this fund and start expanding..
I am soliciting for your assistance in this transaction,and have agreed to give you 30% of the total funds for your assistance. If you are interested in working with me, I will send you the full transaction details on receipt of your response.
You can contact me on my private email: (jerryntai12@yahoo.com.hk) and send me the following information
for documentation purpose:
(1)Full name:
(2)private phone number:
(3)current residential address:
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
Barr. Thomas Dagogo
+447031864550
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Anti-fraud resources:
