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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.
- 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.
- fyao102220@163.com (163; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Fred Yao" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fred_yao55@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 07:44:11 -0500
Subject: Your Urgent Response Is Needed
Greetings,
NOTICE OF PENDING CLASS ACTION AND NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT
You are receiving this e-mail because you may have been related to my deceased client
The purpose of this letter is to briefly introduce myself and also inform
you of a very important and classified information that relates to monetary issues
with regards to my late client who died over eight years ago in a ghastly motor accident in china.
I am Mr.Fred Yao a principal investment manager for the Hong Leong Bank in hong kong.I have decided to write you from this anonymous email account for
security reasons.
I was the personal account manager to the deceased,i like to meet with you
to discuss this issue. If you're interested,contact me on this email (fyao102220@163.com) to enable me to give you more detailed
information about my late client and his estate.
Best regards.
Fred Yao
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Anti-fraud resources:
