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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 company representative scam. This type of job offer scam involves the cashing of fake checks and money orders. It could expose you to losses of tens of thousands of dollars as well as to the risk of criminal prosecution and (in some cases) imprisonment.
- 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.
- jamesmerob@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "JAMES ROBINSON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jamesmerob@sify.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 21:03:00 +1000
Subject: REQUEST FOR PAYMENT OFFICER IN YOUR AREA
I am James Robinson the Manager of james Fabric Textile and i live and work here in MALAYSIA, Would you like to work online from home and get paid without affecting your present job? Actually I need a representative who can be working for our company as online payment officer.
We make lots of supplies to some of our clients in the USA AND CANADA for which I do come down to receive payment and have it cashed after i supply them raw materials.
Its always too expensive and stressful for me to come down and receive such payment twice in a month so i therefore decided to contact you. THEY NORMALLY PAY US BY (CHEQUE, BANK TRANSFER AND CREDIT CARD). I am willing to pay you 10% for every payment received by you from our clients who makes payment through you.
Reply by filling
the form below if interested,
NAME......................
FULL ADDRESS (not P.O. Box)...............
STATE.....
CITY.....
ZIP CODE.....
PHONE NUMBER (S)....................
AGE.....
OCCUPATION..................
CAN YOU PROCESS CREDIT CARD PAYMENT?(YES/NO)
REPLY ASAP: jamesmerob@sify.com
Await your response ASAP.
Best Regards
James Robinson
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Anti-fraud resources:
