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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:
- "might come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Chang Limsiew <changlimsiew@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Chang Limsiew <changlimsiew@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 23:29:00 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Greetings
Greetings,
This mail might come to you as a surprise and also temptation to ignore it as unserious email; but please try to consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility.
My name is Chang Lim Siew from South
Korea. I am 62 years old woman and also suffering from long time cancer, which also affected my heart. My husband and my two children died on a ghastly motor accident few years ago while on vacation in England. But since the loss of my Lovely husband and
children, I have found a new desire to assist helpless families, such as the orphanage/ motherless homes in your country..Before I became ill, I kept $7.Million United State Dollars in a long-term deposit in a
finance company in Malaysia. It is my last wish to see this money is been invested into any business of your Choice that will be giving out to be distributed
amongst the charity organizations.If you are willing to handle this money write Update me with this information.
Full Name.......................
Full Address....................
Mobile Number...................
Country of Origin...............
Personal Email Address..........
Have a nice day.
Best Regard,
Chang Lim Siew
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Anti-fraud resources:
