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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: "Edita Daniel" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrseditadaniel8811@yahoo.fr>
Date: Tue, 9 May 2017 17:30:43 -0400
Subject: PLEASE KINDLY REVERT TO ME,
I am Mrs Edita Daniel from Sierra-Leone, a widow since 2013 and barren. I want you to use the money deposited by my late husband to help the poor, orphanages and less privileged. I have colon cancer and having known my condition, I want you to use this fund for orphanages, also build schools for less privileged. Send your response.
Yours of Good Heart.
Mrs Edita Daniel
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Anti-fraud resources:
