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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "% commission" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Joseph Smith" <sjossys@mail.com>
Reply-To: sjossys@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 03:42:09 -0300 (BRT)
Subject: Exclusive for you.
Attn:
Naturally, this letter will come to you as a surprise since we have not
met, permit me however to introduce myself; I am a white Zimbabwean
Farmer, currently in hiding in Zimbabwe. I have funds ($18.5M) to invest
in your country. I am reaching you as the need for me to have a foreign
partner in your country has become necessary due to my plans to relocate
to that country so that I can purchase some land and start farming all
over again.
If you are interested and willing to assist me (for a 15% commission),
please contact me as soon as possible for more details. I will give you
more details when I hear from you. You can click on the links below to get
a better understanding of my situation and why I need to move out my
money:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1068528.stm
Best Regards,
Joseph Smith.
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Anti-fraud resources:
