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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "% of every payment" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- 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.
- longxian11@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Xian Long" <info@time.net.my>
Reply-To: longxian11@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:37:16 +0800 (MYT)
Subject: Bussiness proposal
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are exporters based in CHINA. we export into Canada, United States &
Europe. We are interested in employing your services, to work with us as
our offshore
payment agent who can help us eastablish a medium of recieving payment on
our behalf. Hence,you will be entitled to 15% of every payment made
through you from our customers.Forward your information below:
Name:
Home Address:
City/State/Zip code:
Tel/Cell phone:
Age:
Sex:
Occupation:
Note: No form of payment will be requested from you in this endeavor.On
receipt of
the above details we shall forward to our Customer to immediately contact
you with
the mode of payment.
Thank you as we await your further response.
Regards,
Xian Long
CEO (Xianlong Company Ltd)
longxian11@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
