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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: Mr John Mclean <mrjoesunny32@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johnmclean_investment200044@outlook.com
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2017 06:16:24 -0800
Subject: LET'S WORK AS A PARTNER???
Hello,
Firstly I apologize for encroaching into your privacy in this manner
as it may seem unethical with a matter of great importance as this.
I am Mr.McLean John working with BNP Paribas Bank. I am contacting you
because my status would not permit me to do this alone as it is
concerning our customer, and an investment placed under our bank's
management over 5 years ago. I would respectfully request that you
keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity
of the information you come by as a result of this mail.
Please kindly get back to me for more details if i can trust you.
Mr.McLean John
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Anti-fraud resources:
