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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:
- "the consignment" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "trunk box" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "trunk boxes" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Mary Allen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <msmaryallen32@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:35:38 -0400
Subject: AWAITING YOUR RESPONSE,
Hello
My name is Mary Allen from Randle Delivery service in New York. I am contacting you on a very strict and confidential basis concerning some of your belongings in our company's possession.
I am the clearance officer for the above company and have stumbled on some valuable information that concerns you. During a routine inspection of unclear consignments in our warehouse I discovered two diplomatic trunk
boxes that bears your name as the beneficiary. On further verification by scanning, I found that the consignments is filled with hard currency, in
US dollars.
I strongly advice that you contact me immediately for further instructions on how you can claim your consignment, When contacting me via email, kindly quote these reference number JB2/11992/10
Yours in service
Mrs Mary Allen
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Anti-fraud resources:
