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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:
- "million us dollars" (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)
- "million dollars" (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)
- ",000,000" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Sello Moloko <hasnurul@stats.gov.my>
Reply-To: <mrssarah.mandela@yahoo.co.za>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2014 16:50:24 +0100
Subject: test@bimeiden.nl
In Loving momery of Nelson Mandela who before he passed away instructed the Nelson Mandela Foundation to give out 20,000.000 Million US Dollars out to 10 Unknown individual around the world and not just South Africa, luckily you have been chosen to claim the sum of 2,000,000 Million Dollars.
First i have to congratulate you for being amongst the 10 lucky once, also you should not use this money on drugs or bad means it should be used for your family and your community.You are to contact us back for further information on how you would claim your donation, and also our great Legend has been put to rest on the 15th Dec 2013 your respect to him would be appreciated and also get back to us with your information
listed below for claim of donation.
Full Name:
Contact Address:
Tel:
Fax:
Country:
Sex:
Age:
Happy New Year.
Mr Sello Moloko
chairman Nelson Mandela Foundation sustainability committee
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Anti-fraud resources:
