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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "D. Janet Michael" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <debts002@mynet.com>
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:30:14 -0700
Subject: YOUR PAYMENT UPDATE, The auditors have handed over your payment
authorization file to Mr. George of the debt settlement commission in Nigeria,
the auditors have instructed them to release your unclaimed US$1.5million
inheritance/lottery funds to you via an ATM card for easy delivery to you.
Kindly reconfirm your full names, residential address, age,
ID and direct telephone numbers to Mr. J. E. George for the delivery of your
US$1.5million ATM card to you. Send your information's ONLY to Mr. George'S
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Anti-fraud resources:
