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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:
- "huge amount of money" (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: "Ms. Sophia Omaku" <privacyd@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: "Ms. Sophia Omaku" <sophiaomaku@yahoo.fr>
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2016 09:13:55 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR URGENT ATTENTION
Dear greetings to you.
Please kindly receive this message with due RESPECT.
I am soliciting for your assistance to save my life that is in danger because of huge amount of money I inherited from my late father. I am 21 years old girl from Ivory Coast, I am presently at the Benin Republic now for my safety. My late father was a coffee and cocoa beans exporter when he was alive. He was poisoned to death by my stepmother, he died last November 18th, 2014. Since after the painful death of my late father, my step-mother was desperately after my life because of this money.
Please I want you to be my Guardian. I need your maximum assistance to transfer this money into any safe bank account you can provide for me and to help me to invest the money into business investment you can manage on my behalf while I continued my studies in any best school. I will like to offer you 30% of this money for your kind assistance and you will help me to invest and mange the remaining 70% into any secured investment you can approve. I want you to receive me and help me as your own daughter and as your family member to protect my right and my interest with fear of God as I want to entrust you with all my heart to support me to archive a better future under your guardian . I will give you more details as soon as I receive your reply.
Regards, Ms. Sophia
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Anti-fraud resources:
