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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Louis James" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <louisjam123@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 May 2016 23:53:01 +0100
Subject: FROM MR. LOUIS JAMES.
United Nations Headquarters
New York, NY 10029, USA.
OUR REF: UN568/PAYMENT/APPROVAL.
YOUR REF: UN568/FUND RELEASE/1001900
Dear Sir/Madam
We are humbly using this medium to inform you that your unclaimed
payment was recovered from AFRICA and has been approved to be released
to you from United States of America.
We have notified the officer in charge to release this funds to you as
soon as possible. You are expected to receive your funds from Mr. Mike
Hurst of Commercial Chartered Bank here in United States of America,
Note that you are expected to contact Mr. Mike Hurst for immediate
release of your funds to you. The only person that has the right to
release your funds to you is Mr. Mike Hurst
Upon the receipt of your response to this email, We shall forward you
the contact information of Mr. Mike Hurst to enable you contact him
for immediate release of your funds.
Finally you are adviced to include your contact information including
your telephone number in your response to this email.
Have a wonderful day
Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Louis James
Director. United Nations
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https://www.avast.com/antivirus
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Anti-fraud resources:
