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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: "Melvin Clark" <help@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: melvinclark85@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 16:16:09 +0200 (EET)
Subject: SOLICITING FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE MY DEAR FRIEND
greet you and hope you treat this email with absolute importance.
my name is Melvin Clark and i am writing you as a mater of urgency, i have
an inheritance that was given to me.
this inheritance is worth 30 million us dollar, and i had a partner that
was going to receive this funds over there in California but due to his
greediness, he wanted 70% which was not what we agreed , we agreed that he
will take 30 % and 10%will be for expenses.
Because of that i didn't want him to receive this funds.
So i am contacting you so that you can help me receive this funds on my
behalf as am talking to you now this funds are already in your country
international airport and ready for delivery , all i need you to do is to
let me know if you will assist me.so get back to me with your full details
and delivery address..
Melvin Clark
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Anti-fraud resources:
