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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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: Marcel Fernand <marcfernand3@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 17:10:49 +0100
Subject:
Greetings,
I am Mr.Marcel Fernand from CENTRAL BANK OF WEST AFRICAN STATES
Lome-Togo ,our late client Mr Bernard Brown who died along with his
family, and no one to claim his US$19.5Million(Nineteen Million Five
Hundred Thousand United States dollars) deposited in our
bank here,I want to present you to the bank here as the relative to
our late client for the claim of the said fund.I request that you
confirmed your kind interest to this transactions to enable me inform
you of the proceedings.
Regards.
Marcel Fernand
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Anti-fraud resources:
