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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "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: Zahra Robert <zr56844@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Zahra Robert <zahrarobert@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2016 21:01:48 +0900 (JST)
Subject: HAPPY NEW YEAR
Good day,
I know the subject might appear sudden but consider it with a deep sense of humility I am so happy that the email is still valid, dear I have a business Proposal that will be of benefit to the both of us and I shall be compensating you with percent at the final conclusion.
I
am writing to acquaint you of a transaction and monetary transfer of ($4,000.000.00) Four Million United state dollarI will be happy to work this deal out with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and if you are capable to keep TOP SECRET. I need strong Assurance that you
will never let me down, if I transfer this money to your account.
I need a reliable partner
to have custody of this fund and we can invest on Real Estate which is at the low presently. If you are interested. Reply me back, so I
can send you more detail on how we are going to proceed.
I await your response and be free to any question which you don't understand do let me know.
Yours Eva.
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Anti-fraud resources:
