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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "m_thompson@9.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: MATHEW THOMPSON <mathew.thompson4@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: m_thompson@9.cn
Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 17:24:52 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Dear Sir,
I am Mr. Mr Mathew Thompson,a manager in the Bills and Exchange at the Foreign Remittance Department of one of the leading banks in West Africa.
I am writing this letter to ask for your support and cooperation to carry out this business opportunity in my department. We discovered an abandoned sum of (Fourteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only)in an account that belongs to one of our USA customer Mr.Peter Williams, who died along with his entire family wife and two children in November 2001 in an auto crash.Since we heard of his death, we have been expecting his next-of-kin to come over and put claims for his money it is not possible for the bank release the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines and policies .Unfortunately,neither their family member or distant relative has ever appeared to claim the said fund.If you you can apply as the next of kin to the late deceased please get back to me so that i can furnish you all the details yo will need to have the fund.you can email me back
on my email at m_thompson@9.cn
Regards
Mathew Thompson
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Anti-fraud resources:
