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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- markvjohnnson@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mark V Johnson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <markvjohnnson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2017 10:07:44 +0100
Subject: Business Proposal.
Dear Mr/Mrs.
I Humbly Request For Your Business Suggestion into this proposal
I know this proposal will come to you as a surprise because we have not met before either physically or through correspondence. I believe is the wish of God I am Mr. Mark V. Johnson from the Netherlands, I am contacting you to seek partnership in a pending business project. In my company were I work, I have a business proposal involving an amount of Gold & Diamond worth millions of dollars) there is no beneficiary related to this gold.it has been declared dormant in my security company.
The reason why I contacted you is that I want us to work together to ship the said gold and diamond out of my company into your country or any other country of your choice for investment. I will be glad to see if you can partner with me and also be a good and trusted person. I have all modalities fashioned out to give it an excellent outcome. Once the business is done, Both of us will share the percentage as 60% to me and 40% to you. I am open to negotiate your percentage. Your utmost attention and sincerity is needed.
Please email me back for further details.Email:markvjohnnson@gmail.com
Very truly yours
Mark V Johnson
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Anti-fraud resources:
