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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:
- "million 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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "BARRISTER JAMES SCOTT" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dragonursala@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2015 13:43:16 -0700
Subject: DETAILS OF WHAT WE NEED
Dear client,
Compliments of the day, My name is Barrister James Scott. I am soliciting for a project manager in your part of the world.
My client has won a contract of telecommunication installment, renovation of hotels and road construction project in your part of the world. In which the total worth of the contract is the sum of $78 Million United States Dollars.
I will like to let you know that my client needs a project manager to work with him. Hence he has so many other projects to take care of. My client is willing to pay you 5% of the $78 Million United States Dollars contract worth. All you need to do is to get a partnership approval certificate to enable you to have full access to collaborate with my client Company.
If you have a registered and existing Company good. But even if you have none existing registered Company. I can help you as a barrister to create a temporary Company just to enable you get the approval certificate so that you can be able to manage the project on behalf of my client.
I will await your quick reply for further proceedings.
Regards.
Barrister James Scott
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Anti-fraud resources:
