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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:
- "million 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Brian Thoreson <philbent119@gmail.com>
Reply-To: brianthoresonw@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 22:54:14 -0700
Subject: Very Important.
I apologize for sending you this sensitive information via E-mail.
In my banking department we discovered an abandoned sum of
10,000,000.00$ [Ten Million Dollars Only) in an account that belongs
to one of our Foreign customers who unfortunately lost his life with
his entire family on his way to the Airport of Heathrow.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his
next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his funds because we
cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as Next of kin or
relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.
We want you to come in as the Next Of Kin, all needed cooperation to
make the claims will be given to you by us. If you are interested
kindly
let us have the below information and I will give you more details.
1. Full name
2: Your private telephone and Fax numbers.
3. Occupations and Nationality.
4. Date of Birth
5, Present Location
6.Home Address
We are offering 30% of the total sum to you as our partner.
We will discuss much in details when I receive your response.
Thanks and good luck to us.
Best regards,
Mr.Brian Thoreson.
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Anti-fraud resources:
