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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Charles Toure <mrsjanegomez@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Charles Toure <ch1toure1@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2015 09:16:46 +0900 (JST)
Subject: A message from Charles,
A message from Charles,
I am interested in investing important amount of funds in your country.
I believe that you will not betray my trust which i am going to lay on you and i hope that this investment project i wish to execute in your country will be treated with urgency. I am Charles Toure 17years old. My late father Mr G. Toure, was an exporter of food products. He was also into gold mining and timber export. He and my late mother Jane was murdered in November 2010 during the post electoral crisis in our country.
Before his death he had deposited with an European Finance company the sum of $15.5m {Fifteen million five hundred thousand United States dollars) which also has a branch in the United Kingdom and Canada. Please i need your assistance for the transfer of this funds from this European Finance company to another bank account in your country. And please i need you to understand that you will also act as the co-beneficiary of this funds because i feel no more safe here because of my late father family members that want to kill me. Please also Note that you will be compensated with 15% of this fund for your cordial assistance. please i wait to hear from you.
Thanks
Thanks Yours
Charles Toure
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Anti-fraud resources:
