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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:
- "dansmithloancompany@gmail.com" (This email address looks like addresses used in fake loan scams. Be suspicious of any lender who uses a free webmail address or who is based in different country from yourself.)
- 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.
- dansmithloancompany@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "DAN SMITH LOAN OFFER" <dansmithloancompany1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dansmithloancompany@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:43:17 -0300 (ART)
Subject:
Attn:Sir/Madam,
We are certified loan lender and offer secured loans to individuals
and companies at low interest rate....We offer long and short term
loans. Our firm has recorded a lot of breakthroughs in the provision
of first class financial services to our clients especially in the
area of Loan syndication and capital provision for individuals and
companies.
In our loan scheme tagged 'loan under two weeks',every customer both local
and international have the guarantee of obtaining a loan from this company
on the mode of unsecured offshore international funding which means no
collateral is required for this process.
Our service has been repositioned and standardized to meet customers
demands in an economical way. Our interest charge is indeed reasonable,we
offer hassle free loan service where by customers are allowed to make
repayment over a long time span.
Lastly, we fund small scale loan firm, intermediaries,small scale
financial institutions for we have unlimited capital.
For further details to go about procuring a loan from us: Kindly respond
immediately to this Email:dansmithloancompany@gmail.com
Looking forward to your reply.
Best Regards
Dan Smith
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Anti-fraud resources:
