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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:
- "huge sum of money" (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: Tbek Tbek <gilkel4@gmail.com>
Reply-To: tbek_tbek@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2017 01:06:33 -0800
Subject: I AWAIT YOUR REPLY
--
Hello,
I am an attorney at law based in Western part of Africa. I have a
business transaction of huge sum of money i want to solicit for your
partnership to execute it without any hitch.
I have a client who happens to be a top government official in my
country that has mandated me to look out for investment opportunities
abroad, he is particularly interested in property business but we can
also consider other arrears of investments.
He has the sum of $21M deposited in a finance house ready to be
invested. If you have viable investment plan please get back to me
immediately for further directives.
Thank you,
Tuoyo Bekederemo.
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Anti-fraud resources:
