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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:
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Morgan Jones" <morganjones777@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: <morganibusaj@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:28:02 +0100
Subject: Compliment of the season!
Compliment of the season!
I am sorry for contacting you through this medium without any previous notice. I am a senior staff with Credit Suisse Bank, London
i have a certain amount of money been deposited by one of our customer but he died since 7yrs now and non of his relatives has come up to claim this money as a result that they do not even know he has such savings.hence i am seeking your assistant to see that we get this funds from the Bank all you need to do is act as the next of kin to the late customer that is all.just indicate your interest and i will give you the guidelines.There is no risk involved and the fund approval will have a full legal backup. be rest assured this is open transparency?
Please treat with utmost confidentiality.
Best Regard,
Mr. Morgan Jones
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Anti-fraud resources:
