419 scam: Sharon Niebuhr <sharon.niebuhr@sbcglobal.net> Urgent Help Please

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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: Sharon Niebuhr <sharon.niebuhr@sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: Sharon Niebuhr <sharon.niebuhr@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 07:35:04 -0800
Subject: Urgent Help Please

Sorry for any inconvenience, i am writing to you with Tears, My family and I came over to Manila Philippines for a program, The program was successful but Unfortunately we got mugged by unknown gunmen, All our money, credit card and phones was stolen from us, leaving our passport and life safe. our luggage is still in custody of the hotel management pending when we make payment on outstanding bills we owe.I contacted my bank email for a wire transfer but it has proven almost Impossible for me to operate my account from here as they made me understand international transactions take 7 working days to be effective which i can't wait, Our return flight leave soon and we are having financial problems sorting our hotel bills the hotel manager won't let us leave until we sort the bills.We need your urgent help with a loan of $2,200 or whatever amount you can spare right now, I promise to refund you back the money as soon we are back home. Please let me know
what you can do so that i can let you know how to send the money.

All hopes on you.
Sharon Niebuhr.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam