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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: "Sarah Kim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <victorwang67@imail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 20:42:18 +0800
Subject: Investment opportunity
Good day!
I am Mrs Sarah Kim, the personal secretary in Development Bank of Singapore (DBS). I write to seek your interest in a business transaction which involves a Claim of an abandoned Inheritance Entitlement of US$45M deposited in our bank for over 27 years ago by a late foreign investor,Mr. Nusret Mahmood Syed, Pakistani citizen who died in the Collapsed New World Hotel, 1986. If you can cooperate with me I would want us to pull out the fund from the bank for the purpose of establishing a joint venture on Real Estate and Tourist Centre oversea or share the proceeds accordingly as 30% for you; 70% for me.
I shall unfold details upon your reply.
Best regards,
Sarah Kim.
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Anti-fraud resources:
