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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: "Dr.Stanley Wilson." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <stanwalker202@outlook.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2017 23:22:07 -0700
Subject: REGARDING YOUR OUTSTANDING PAYMENT.
Dear Sir,
REGARDING YOUR OUTSTANDING PAYMENT.
We received a (memo) from International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pay your
long outstanding fund immediately.Through our Intelligence Monitoring
Network we have noticed that you have made several attempt to realize
this payment but all your effort proves futile.
After due verifications,if you are certified bonafide beneficiary to the
funds, We shall wire your funds without delays.I will give you a time
frame of transfer once I receive your response.
Thanks,
Stanley Wilson
Director International Remittance Dept.
For: Bank of Ghana (BoG)
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Anti-fraud resources:
