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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million british pounds" (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)
- 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.
- martinsjohnk@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "DR.JOHN K. MARTINS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <martinsjohnk@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 08:02:08 +0100
Subject: Dear friend
Barclays Bank PLC
28 High Street
Nottinghamshire
United kingdom
NG1 2bd
martinsjohnk@gmail.com
Dear friend ,
My name is John k. Martins and i am the chief officer of the Barclays
bank nottingham, United kingdom . I am married with 3 kids .
I wish to inform you that i need your urgent help . The sum of £16.5
million british pounds was left in my bank by the late Hugo Chavez , the
former president of venezuela and i was his accounts officer until he
died .
I met Mr. chavez in venezuela in 2008 and he created this account in my
bank and informed me that he wanted to invest in real estate in the
united kingdom.
I need to transfer this money from my bank to your bank so that we
shall both share this money and i need the transfer to be done
urgently .
Please contact me now if you can help me and send me the below
details
1} Full names and address
2} Address
I am waiting to hear from you now .
John k.Martins
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Anti-fraud resources:
