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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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Miss Juliette Kouauo" <missjuliette010kouauo@gmail.com>
Reply-To: misssjuliettekouauo@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2017 15:16:38 +0700 (ICT)
Subject: From Miss Juliette Kouauo( ASSISTANCE TO INVEST IN YOUR COUNTRY
Greeting,
My name is Juliette Kouauo. I lost my father a year and couple of months
ago. My father was a serving director of the Agro-exporting board until
his death.
He was assassinated by the rebels during the political uprising in my
Country. Before his death, he made a deposit of US$25.5 Million Dollars
here in Cote d'ivoire which was for the purchase of cocoa processing
machine and development of another factory before his untimely death.
I will be waiting for your urgent response as to give you more details.
Juliette Kouauo
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Anti-fraud resources:
