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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Ruth Hopewell <drownplc43@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Ruth Hopewell <ruthopewell@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2017 07:21:44 +0900 (JST)
Subject: May God Bless You as You read
May God Bless You as You read,
I am Mrs. Ruth Hopewell, suffering from cancerous ailment?
I
was married to Mr. Brian Hopewell, my husband worked with
Chevron/Texaco in Thailand for twenty years before he died in the year
2013 during the Spanish train crash which took him away from me. My late
husband deposited the sum of $17.5 Million (Seventeen Million Five
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with a Bank. I want you to take
40 percent of the total money for your personal use while 60% of the
money will go to charity"
people in the street and helping the orphanage.
Recently, I am
currently in New Delhi for the past two
months undergoing treatment and my Doctor told me that I have limited
days to live due to the stroke and cancerous problems have been
suffering from. I have decided to donate
this fund to charity Home through you and want you to use my husband
effort to fund the upkeep of widows and charities worldwide.
I
took this decision because I did not have a child that will inherit this
money and my husband relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy persons
and I do not want my husband hard earned money to be misused, so In This
Faith i have decided to do this for GOD as i Await your urgent reply:
Best Regard
Mrs Ruth Hopewell
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Anti-fraud resources:
