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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Debt Management Office" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <director.general@dmo-nig.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 17:17:28 -0500
Subject: Ref: Recovered $12.5 Million - Are you still ALIVE?
Hello.
My name is Sir. Abraham Nwankwo. I am the Director-General of the Debt Management Office - DMO in Nigeria.
Your case file for the payment of $12.5 Million is right here on my desk after several ordered investigation on why our officers could not pay you and made you spend a lot of money.
We have discovered a lot of fraud against you. In an attempt to frustrate you and divert your money to a Japanese account instead of your direct account claiming that you are dead. I thank God we have recovered all your fund safely and right now I will singularly and personally handle your payment to ensure that you receive it directly to your country account or any other country of your choice without any hitch whatsoever.
Are you healthy and Alive? if yes, urgently get back to me on this my official email address.
For your safety and security, do not attend to any email you receive from public servers such as yahoo.com and gmail.com.
I wait your response urgently.
Sir. Abraham Nwankwo
D.G, DMO
NIGERIA
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Anti-fraud resources:
