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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:
- "million united states dollars" (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: CHRISTINE CHRIS <robertstanley767@gmail.com>
Reply-To: christinelagarde008@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2016 05:37:31 -0700
Subject: Barclays Bank
--
Good morning,
It is a pleasure to pass on this good news to you because finally God
has done it. All arrangements made by me and some other bodies that
made this possible for this good news to come to pass.
The arrangement is this.
We have made arrangement for an investment Banker that will assist in
helping you sought out a draft of 200 Million United States Dollars
from Barclays Bank London. It can be paid in parts 10 Million each
draft depending on the arrangements with him.
All I want is for you to contact the investment Lawyer have brief
discussions with and he will let you know how you are going to meet
with him in London to collect the draft in Barclays Bank. Please note
that you are not going to London wit any handling charges yours is
just to make arrangements on how to meet with him in London. The main
arrangemt is that when you cash the money in your country you are
expected to give him 5% of the total sum. Here is his contact below.
And please do ensure you get back to me so that we can discuss more on
this.
Regards,
Christine.
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Anti-fraud resources:
