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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:
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Celina Jocie" <celinajocie@cantv.net>
Reply-To: unations02@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 13:13:13 -0430 (VET)
Subject: =?UTF-8?B?Q29uZmlybSBZb3VyIFBheW1lbnQgKA==?=
=?UTF-8?B?IENhbGwgKzEgOTQ5LTQ0MS0wMzUy4oCP4oCP?=
Good Day
I am Celina Jocie Compliance Officer,United Nations @ European Union/Africa Monitoring,Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) here in United States. This office is responsible for resolving pending Contract/Inheritance and Lotto transfer owed to companies and individuals.
As you must understand, a huge amount of money has been intercepted in the international banking system valued millions of US Dollars been your inheritance or award winning which have been delayed due to many abnormalities that had happened in the apex institutions.
To ensure high quality payment execution you are advice to confirm your FULL NAME: FULL CONTACT ADDRESS,YOUR IDENTIFICATION COPY AND TELEPHONE NUMBER via this email and file your payment application to our payment office here United States Of America for your payment.
From Celina Jocie
125 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10601
United States Of America
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Anti-fraud resources:
