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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Elizbeth Arm" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <elizbeth.arm@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 09:18:27 -0800
Subject: Hello Dear,
Hello Dear,
May the peace of our lord be with you; my name is Elizbeth Arm 17yrs old female, my parents are late and I have no other relative, at the moment am residing in Cote d'Ivoire, please am pleading with you to assist me get what is rightfully mine Before the death of my late father on his sick bed in a private hospital he called me to inform me about a sum funds he deposited in a suspense account here in Abidjan Please let me know if you are willing to assist me get what is rightfully mine
Best regards
Elizbeth Arm
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Anti-fraud resources:
