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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Goodwill Panza <goodwillpanza@katamail.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:16:40 +0200
Subject: Re: Business
Hello Dear Friend,
I write to ask you to be my foreign partner and funds manager to invest
the sum of USD58million in your country. My name is Goodwill Samba-Panza
from the richest Diamond producing Central Africa Republic. I am
presently in Accra Ghana. Kindly reply me as soon as possible for more
details if you are interested in my proposal. Thanks and God bless you
as i wait to hear from you soon. Goodwill
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Anti-fraud resources:
