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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:
- "top of the day to you" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "2078175781@qq.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Stanisic Dragana" <asa@mail.com>
Reply-To: 2746101433@qq.com
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 09:32:22 +0100
Subject: **SPAM**
Dear Friend,
Top of the day to you,My name is Brian Miller, am an accountant at the RBS. Thanks for Giving me the opportunity to inform you on a very important Business Proposal on my desk that will be of immense benefit to both of us. with that said i want you to know that this proposal is 100% risk free, before i go into detail i want you to know We will share in the Ratio of 50/50 % at the end of this deal. All i require is your capable hands and your honest cooperation. we stand to gain $28 millions us dollars before the end of this year.I need you to signify your interest by replying to this email.
For more information please contact me on my private email 2078175781@qq.com immediately.
Warm Regards.
Brian Miller
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Anti-fraud resources:
