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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.
- 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.
- fbibrown741@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: test@mail.com
Reply-To: fbibrown741@hotmail.com
Date: 12 Aug 2017 16:19:25 -0700
Subject: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS (F.B.I)
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS (F.B.I)
HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC. MR. ANDREW G. MCCABE
BUILDING 935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,
NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001
E-Mail: fbibrown741@hotmail.com
Our Ref: CBN /0N8/CONTRACT NO.856.
To. Beneficiary,
This is ANDREW G. MCCABE FBI DIRECTOR, and we are here in Africa
as an FBI/UNITED STATE delegate that have been delegated to
investigate these fraudsters who are in the business of swindling
Foreigners that came for transaction in Africa.Please be informed
that during our investigation,we found out that there is a total
sum amount of money $12.5 million that has been assigned in your
name as the beneficiary and these fraudsters are busy swindling
you without any hope of receiving your fund. These are the works
of the fraud stars who needed to extort money from you in the
name of this transfer.We have to inform you that we have made
some arrested in respect of this delayed over due fund. I have a
very limited time to stay in Africa here so I advise you urgently
respond to this message. These criminals will be caught unaware
and we don't want them to know this new development to avoid
jeopardizing our investigation,you need to conceal anything that
has to do with this exercise to enable us get all the necessary
information we required.
I shall be expecting your swift response as soon as you receive
this email and notify us any message you receive from those
fraudsters for us to investigate on it
before you make any contact with them.
Regards.
MR. ANDREW G. MCCABE
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