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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:
- "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)
- 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.
- tan.james197@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Mr.James Tan <KFA14@KTT175.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <tan.james197@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 23:53:03 +0530
Subject: (From: Mr.James Tan (Urgent & Confidential)
(From: Mr.James Tan (Urgent & Confidential) Good Day, Please Read. My name =
is Mr.James Tan, I am the Bill and Exchange manager here in (SBI)State Bank=
of India. I have a business proposal in the tune of $9.7m, (Nine Million S=
even Hundred Thousand Dollars Only)after the successful transfer, we shall =
share in ratio of 40% for you and 60% for me. Should you be interested, ple=
ase contact me through my private email ( tan.james197@gmail.com ) so we ca=
n commence all arrangements and i will give you more information on how we =
would handle this project. I will want you to call me as soon as you can (+=
91 844 737 8795 ) Please treat this business with utmost confidentiality an=
d send me the Following: 1. Your Full Name:............ 2. Your Phone Numbe=
r:.......... 3. Your Age:.................... 4. Your Sex:.................=
.. 5. Your Occupations:............ 6. Your Country and City:.... Kind Rega=
rds, Mr.James Tan. Bill & Exchange manager (SBI)State Bank of India. Email =
( tan.james197@gmail.com )
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Anti-fraud resources:
