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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:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge amount 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)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: David Gasela <davigas777@gmail.com>
Reply-To: davgasela777@aol.com
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2017 22:19:59 +0300
Subject: LOOKING FOR INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP
Dear Sir,
I do hope that your day is good. My name is David Gasela, a former state
minister from Pretoria in South Africa. I saw your profile on yellow pages
and decided to contact you over investments with your support and
assistance.
I am a top politician and civil servant in government in South Africa that
requires your kind assistance and understanding.
I am requesting for your assistance and understanding to receive a huge
amount of money on my behalf for investment purposes in real estate in your
country. It is against the government regulations in South Africa for
active civil servants in government to have foreign investments or bank
accounts, hence my humble request that all investments which will be
located in your country will be managed by anyone that can stand as my
partner to receive the funds on my behalf.
I am soliciting with you in this regard to understand the nature of this
transaction which has to be kept very confidential between all parties
involved. If you can work with me to receive the funds and start up this
investment projects in real estate, you will be well compensated for your
time, efforts and understanding.
I will like you to think about this proposal and respond back as soon as
possible to know if we can work together on this issue and also for me to
provide more details to you. However if you are not available to work with
me, I do sincerely apologize for taking your precious time and advice that
you delete this mail and keep our correspondences confidential.
Thanking you for your time and looking forward to your response.
Best Regards
David
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Anti-fraud resources:
