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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.
- 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.
- hangcsengbank@rocketmail.com (Rocketmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "HANG SENG BANK LTD HONG KONG" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hangbsengbank@rocketmail.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14.11.29 +0100
Subject: DETAILS OF MONEY TRANSFER FROM HANG-SENG-BANK-LTD-HONG-KONG TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT:My name is Dr.John Chan Director with Hang Seng Bank Ltd Hong Kong. HELP me receive and secure the transfer of this US$25 MILLION out of our bank to YOUR CUSTODY. This $25M has been in a suspense account for several years. Our board of Directors officially mandated me to search for the deceased next of kin but all correspondences to the deceased last known address came back undelivered. You share the same SURNAME with the dece
DETAILS OF MONEY TRANSFER FROM HANG-SENG-BANK-LTD-HONG-KONG TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT:My name is Dr.John Chan Director with Hang Seng Bank Ltd Hong Kong. HELP me receive and secure the transfer of this US$25 MILLION out of our bank to YOUR CUSTODY. This $25M has been in a suspense account for several years. Our board of Directors officially mandated me to search for the deceased next of kin but all correspondences to the deceased last known address came back undelivered. You share the same SURNAME with the deceased so I want you to apply as his legitimate Next-of-kin so that our bank can transfer this US$25 MILLION into your bank account. send FULL NAMES AND ADDRESS to: hangcsengbank@rocketmail.com so that my lawyer can prepare all legal documents with your information. I will use my position in the bank to make sure this US$25 MILLION is PAID to your Bank Account. I will give you $10 MILLION USD and invest my own in your country Thanks Dr.John Chan
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Anti-fraud resources:
