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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: "Mr. David Lipton" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lipton.david@mail.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2017 08:25:28 +0800
Subject: .Reply Urgent
Sir
This is to bring your notice that International Monetary Fund (IMF) have signed authorized to release your outstanding fund $9.7m , this is an agreement with world bank branch in Africa we have given them instruction to release this fund to all the beneficiaries stated their email and names in our notice board .
I will advise you to reply this mail to enable us direct you the right person you have to contact in regard to your fund. Below is our information just reply for direction of your fund. And your fund approved to release to you through ATM master/visa card. This is for all the Americans specially USA and Canadians.
Reply for the direction of your payment.
Thank you.
First Deputy Managing Director
Mr. David Lipton
www.imf.org
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Anti-fraud resources:
