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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.
- 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.
- zyurkaisheng@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Zyur Kaisheng" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zyurkaisheng@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:36:02 +0200
Subject: China Trust Commercial Bank
Greetings to you
I am Zyur Kaisheng, Principal Assurance manager for the China Trust Commercial Bank in China. I am getting in touch with you regarding the estate and an investment placed under our banks management 7 years ago under my direct supervision.
I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I contact you independently and no one is informed of this communication.
What I propose is that since I have exclusive access to his file, you will be made the beneficiary of these funds. My bank will contact you informing you that money has been willed to you because we have been unable to trace the relatives since two years now that the owner has died. On verification, which will be the details I make available to my bank. You do not have to have known him. I know this might be a bit heavy for you but please trust me on this. For all your troubles I propose that we split the money in half. In the banking circle this happens every time. The other option is that the money will revert back to the state.
Nobody is getting hurt; this is a lifetime opportunity for us. I hold the KEY to these funds, and as a Chinese National we see so much cash and funds being re-assigned daily. I would want us to keep communication for now strictly by email for confidential reasons. Until I hear from you and you have shown your interest, then I will furnish you with pertinent details regarding how we can conclude this great opportunity. I will also need you to forward me your personal detail telephone and fax numbers for easy communication I will also forward to you me and my family pics as soon as I am sure of your interest.
I await your response at my private email box:zyurkaisheng@gmail.com.
Zyur Kaisheng
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Anti-fraud resources:
