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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:
- "dear friend" (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: "Mason Corn"<psn@psn.com>
Reply-To: <masondcorn@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2016 21:19:14 +0100
Subject: Shot down Malaysian MT17 Flight
Dear Friend,
How are you doing? My name is Mason Corn, an account manager with a financial institution in Europe (name withheld for security reasons) and account officer of the deceased family (Erik van Heijningen) who died in the the Malaysian MT17 Flight shot down in Ukraine. I have a risk-free deal of Ninety Five million United State Dollars only from my department which was deposited and unclaimed by Mr. Erik before his death. Since the entire family died in the crash, i need a trust worthy person who can recieve the money to enable us share it while part of the money will be given to the orphanage homes provided you will you will not betray the confidence i repose on you upon receipt of the money.
More details will be given to you as soon as i recieve a positive response from you.
Regards from,
Mason Corn
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Anti-fraud resources:
