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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 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: "Mrs. Mary Edward" <nam@t880.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <edwardmaryi@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 21:39:24 -0500
Subject: Very urgent response please
Good Morning, I am contacting you with a good faith and believing that you =
are going to assist me in this transaction, My name is Mrs. Mary Edward, my=
husband name is frank Edward who his business partners assassinated him tw=
o weeks ago because of the contract which they did and the government has p=
ay them $200 Million dollars his share of 40% of the money they want to sea=
t on it right now I and my two children are under hiding because they are l=
ooking for us, we fly out our family attorney notified me yesterday that th=
ere is $21.5million dollars which he willed to my name and I am planning to=
move the money to your country I will come over to your country for an inv=
estment of the money please kindly get back to me for more details For your=
assistance for this transaction I will compensate you with 30% of the mone=
y, I got your email through my late husband file. Yours sincerely. Mrs. Mar=
y Edward
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Anti-fraud resources:
