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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: William Walcott <car@probation.gov.ph>
Reply-To: William Walcott <willianwalcott@brokersonly.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 11:04:04 +0800 (PHT)
Subject: my late client Mr. Patrick
I am a personal broker for my late client Mr. Patrick and on whose authority I act.My Client had interests in solid minerals prior to his death on the 5th of May, 2008.
I was recently contacted by a former colleague where he had a deposit of £7.8m to contact his kit and kin to notify them of the plans of the financial institution where he had this deposit.The financial institution want to have his stock liquidated for their personal interest all because no one has made claim for 5years.To this end, I have made several requisitions in the relevant quarters seeking to find any of his possible extended relatives who would be presented as beneficiaries to his estate to no avail thus necessitating our reaching you.
Kindly get back to me as soon as possible or send me a contact number to reach you on so we can proceed.
Sincerely,
William Walcott
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Anti-fraud resources:
