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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- maryhill888@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Marry Hill" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <maryhill888@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:15:28 +0800
Subject: Unique and of Immense Interest
Hello Dear,
It is my sincere pleasure at this moment to exhibit my total trust bestowed on you in accordance to my Proposal to you. I am contacting you in respect to my late husband's fund worth US$8.5Million deposited with a diplomatic company here in London for security purposes. But right now, my husband is dead and the security company has been giving me several notifications to make the claim of the said fund before it is being declared unserviceable by the beneficiary. I want a situation whereby you assist me to make the claim of this fund from the security company so that it will be transferred to your custody pending my arrival to your country so that we can use it judiciously for investment purposes. I will be offering you 30% of the fund for your foreign assistance. I am contacting you in this respect for the below purpose, 1, My financial incapability of making the claim at the moment. 2, I want to invest the fund overseas with a help of a reliable and trustworthy foreigner .!
I hope to hear from you.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Hill.
Email: maryhill888@yahoo.co.uk
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Anti-fraud resources:
