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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Amy Lutjens" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <m_776@yahoo.cn>
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:00:25 -0700
Subject: This is from Mrs. Amy
Hello,
I am Mrs.Amy Lutjens,Hungarian married to late politician, Mr. M.A. Lutjens. My husband was divisional
treasurer of Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) in Netherlands.He was brutally murdered by opposing members
of his party for his straightforwardness and accountability,Though the government claimed that it was a robbery attack.
I was lucky to stand this gruesome murder on the night of 13th January 2009.My life has not being the same since his demise.
I was diagnosed with cancer of breast shortly after this accident. My health has so deteriorated that the doctors say I have few
months on earth. Our only son died in 2007 after a car crash. So, I am in a lonely world of my own waiting for death to come.
I write you to seek your assistance in the security of US$8.2million deposited by my late husband with a security vault before he was killed.
I am the only one with direct access and information of this deposit. I want you to use these funds on charity and for the less priviledged.
I decided to seek attention knowing that my days are numbered and having received a Notification from the security company that they
will turn the deposit to its treasury if I fail to present a representative of my family for the claim.
Amy.
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Anti-fraud resources:
