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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:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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)
- "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)
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist 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: Donald Maxwell <llpp@comune.pinerolo.to.it>
Reply-To: REPLY FOR DETAILS <donail.max@mail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 18:50:22 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL...
Hello ,
I am Donald Maxwell by name and presently in a refugee camp in Accra, Ghana west Africa. My father is a former minister of finance in Kenya before he died.i am contacting you in respect of my two trunk boxes which are already in your country with the my diplomat, my former Partner that was suppose to help me receive the trunk boxes for me became greedy asking for 70% which we agreed on 35% before the boxes left Ghana.
I had to put a stop to the delivery.I am contacting you as my new beneficiary to help me receive my two trunk boxes because i have mapped out 45% for you.
I want to inform you that the diplomat has been there for days now waiting to hear from my new foreign partner to carry out the delivery to.The content of my two consignment boxes is Money ( Five Hundred and Seventeen Million four Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ) which i will like to invest in a profitable business which i will be glad to take advise from you.
Best Regards,
Donald Maxwell.
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Anti-fraud resources:
