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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "WHITE GOLD" <mail2me@dacogroupltd.net>
Reply-To: <mail2me@cheerful.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 19:36:25 -0000
Subject: RE: WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU.
I KNOW IT IS NOT SAFE TO COMMUNICATE TO YOU THREW THIS MEANS, BUT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN REACH OUT TO YOU, BECAUSE AM WRITING YOU FROM PRISON. I WANT YOU TO HANDLE MY TRANSACTION SINCE I HAVE TO REMAIN HERE FOR ANOTHER 12 YEARS.
I CANNOT TRUST ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS OR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY ALL RAN AWAY WITH MY FUNDS, EVEN MY OWN WIFE LEFT ME, FOR 5 YEARS NOW I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY BODY.
I THINK I SHOULD TELL YOU MY SITUATION AND HAVE FULL TRUST IN YOU, BECAUSE I BELIVE I RATHER TRUST SOMEONE I DON’T EVEN KNOW THAN ALL THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO RAN WITH MY FUNDS AND LEFT ME HERE WITHOUT VISIT.
AM HERE IN PRISON FOR A DRUG OFFENCE AND I STILL HAVE ANOTHER 12 YEARS TO REMAIN HERE BUT I HAVE SOME GOOD FUNDS SOMEWHERE WHICH I WANT YOU TO HELP ME TAKE CARE OF.
FOR MY SECURITY I WILL WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU BEFORE I CAN GIVE YOU MORE INFORMATION ON MY SELF AND WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. ALL I NEED IS A GOOD HEARTED PERSON WHO WILL NOT SELL ME OUT.
DO NOT BE AFRAID NOBODY KNOWS AM SENDING YOU THIS LETTER SO PLEASE KEEP THE SECRET.
SEND ME YOUR DETAILS AND IF POSSIBLE A NEW EMAIL ADDRESS FOR OUR COMMUNICATION ONLY.
PLEASE THIS MESSAGE IS FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. STILL WAITING ON THE NET FOR YOUR REPLY.
THANKS
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Anti-fraud resources:
