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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:
- "chief auditor" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- 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.
- hoangdiem2020@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: =?iso-8859-2?B?IlNpcG9zIEzhc3ps827pIg==?= <sipos.laszlone@abpk.szie.hu>
Reply-To: hoangdiem2020@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:53:32 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Late Mr. John Peter $21.5m USD
Dearest Friend,
It s about a customer that came to our Standard Chartered Bank here in Vietnam to engage in Private Banking services. So, the customer had a financial portfolio of $21.5m USD been deposited without next of kin to his file and then I help turned over in the purchase of securities in the capital markets. I was the bank adviser assisting the customer in the management of the fund. I have proposal for you as a matter of urgent to Late Mr. John Peters from United Kingdom in respect to his unclaimed wealth and unfortunately he died along with his wife and only daughter in the event of terrorist attack on 11th September, 2001 in the World Trade center. My proposition is this,I am will prepared and place you in a position to claim the funds as the chief auditor in this Bank and I will instruct my Bank to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving relative and prepare documents in your name. If you find yourself able to work with me in this transaction and do contact via my private E-mail: hoangdiem2020@hotmail.com
If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards conclusion.
Mrs.Nguyen Hoang Diem.
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Anti-fraud resources:
