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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Jonathan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jonalde@mail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 22:41:02 +0100
Subject: PLEASE CAN YOU HELP?
Dear Sir/Madam,
I got your email from Mr. James Heath, who I asked to source for a trustworthy person or company for investment purpose.
I have US$50M which I want to put into a good and lucrative investment as soon as possible.
If you can work with me in re-profiling and investing these funds let me know, but however, before we proceed further I would like to know more details about you for my personal scrutiny and to know if you are capable of this deal, please provide me:
1. Full names.
2. Country of Residence.
3. A detailed profile about your self/business.
4. If you are required to travel how soon can you make your self available.
5. Have you handle such large amount of transactions before?
All these information’s are very important for me to move forward with this transaction and also provide me your direct/ personal telephone number so that I can call you to discuss over the phone.
Dr. Jonathan Ide
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Anti-fraud resources:
