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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: "Don Payne" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <donpayne@e1.ru>
Date: Sat, 28 May 2016 14:14:59 -0700
Subject: Contact Me
Hello,
Let this message not come as a surprise to you. I am aware that the internet has been misused or abused for nefarious schemes by a tiny population. But it remains the fastest, easiest and safest method of sending messages. Corporate organizations such as banks and well-meaning individuals use the internet to transact and conclude genuine businesses. Hence I had to use it as a form of communication to reach you, for a legal business. I have emailed you earlier without a response and sent this same letter to your mailing address (But I guess I got your mailing address wrong).
I am 89 years old. I live at the government aged home and taken care of by social workers. I have hearing problem and my speech is not too good, hence I decided to contact you via this medium. I wish to notify you again that you were listed as a beneficiary of fund (amount withheld for security reasons until I receive a letter of intention from you to receive this fund) in a bank in the intent of the deceased (name now withheld since this is our second letter to you).
In my first email I mentioned about my late neighbor/friend died at the age of 90 years. The relatives I cannot get in touch and has some huge amount of money domiciled in a bank. I am contacting you because you have the same surname identity with this my friend and therefore I can present you as the beneficiary to the fund since there is no written will by friend. Before his death he gave me information about the money he has in the bank and the account number and instructed that in an event of his death I should search for anyone that has the same surname identity with him to contact his bank as that is what he wrote in the mandate form of the bank whilst opening an account that his next of kin is anyone with the same surname identity.
I am compelled to do this because I would not want the bank to push my friend’s fund into the bank treasury as unclaimed inheritance or use it for other purposes.
I will send you the information of his bank to contact as soon as receive a positive acknowledgment from you which also serves as acceptance to proceed to receive this fund in your account.
Yours faithfully,
Don Payne
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