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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:
- 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:
- "million us dollars" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: jenny wilson <jennymbasowilson01@att.net>
Reply-To: jennymw01@sify.com
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:33:54 -0800 (PST)
Subject: ASSISTANT NEEDED
Dear,
It is my pleasure to write this mail to you. I got your contact through yellow page and i decided to contact you. Sincerely speaking i am ex-girl friend to the Central bank Governor in my country.
He dumped me after promise to divorce his wife who slept with a Senator but the good news was that he loathed 7.9 million us dollars and kept them under my care here in Wales UK, to be frank i have decided to keep the funds to myself since that he has chose to break my heart.
Right now i am in UAE searching for a reliable person who can help me secure this funds out of his knowledge and introduce me on how best to invest it in a lucrative business, in fact my heart will never be at rest until this funds move out of UK to avoid monitoring, i am ready to prepare change of ownership to your name as soon as we know each other very well. Please reach me your private email address and your contact number to enable me to contact you and proceed perfect with you.
I will be very much impress to see your respond soon.
Miss Jennifer
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Anti-fraud resources:
