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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 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "William Bill" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <harryphillips2010@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:07:56 +0100
Subject: Please Respond
Let start by introducing myself I am Mr. Harry Phillips a retired chartered accountant and a broker I want to use this medium to inform you that I have some financial investors Who operate a Trust Fund with some of the prime banks for the grant of loan between the minimum of 100 million to maximum of 500 million dollars/euro to fund any viable project that is capable of generating annual Return on Investment.
They offer funding in form of direct loan at a low interest rate of 6.8% per annum. If you are interested in working with this group, kindly send me your executive summary/business plan for my investors review.
Thanks for understanding and i shall await your response.
Regards,
Mr. Harry Phillip.
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Anti-fraud resources:
