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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "i will like you to " (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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- ericeric11@accountant.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Eric Boahen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ericeric11@accountant.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:20:09 -1200
Subject: JOB OFFER, WORK FROM HOME..
Hello,
Greetings to you, My name is Mr Eric Boahen an agent of richtextile we are now in need of company representatives in the U.S.A
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR US?
Our Company needs a representative in the United states who will serve as our Agent in processing payments made out to us by our U.S Customers this is because We make lots of supplies in bulk on credit to our customers in the United states and experience a lot of delays in collecting payments from different numerous customers from here in china direct. Money wire to us by our customers from U.S has had its challenges as well.
So i will like you to write us back if you are interested in working as a part-time agent that will be working from home. Looking forward to hear back from you. My email is ericeric11@accountant.com
Mr Eric Boahen.
richtextile
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Anti-fraud resources:
