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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Isaac Garang" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <isaacgarang1@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2016 04:35:30 -0600
Subject: Greetings from Isaac Garang.
Dear,
My name is Isaac Garang the youngest son of the Late John Garang the father and independent fighter of the South Sudan.
Currently, I am currently living in Sweden as a political refugee. You can learn more about my father via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Garang I have a document in my possesion which was sent to me by my late fathers lawyer concerning a deposit he made in my name in a bank here in Sweden, reasons I came here to seek for political assylum as a refugee.
I am told that under international refugee laws I cannot do business. I spoke with an immigration lawyer who advise me to look for a partner outside Sweden and authorise the bank to wire the money to the person's account then I can now apply for visa with a written letter of invitation from the person inviting me over to his country.
Note that the amount we are talking about is a very big amount. Upon receipt of your response, I will tell you the area that I will need your help and note that I will compensate you heavily for this because living here as a refugee is not helping me at all.
Thanks and waiting for your response.
Isaac Garang.
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Anti-fraud resources:
