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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:
- "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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Sofia Adams <sofia.adams202@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Sofia Adams <sofia.adams201@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:36:59 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Dearest Beloved One
Dearest Beloved One
I am Miss. Sofia Adams. from Cote D’ivoire, It's my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend to establish in your country, Please accept my apologies for the inconveniences of any sort this Mail May cost you. Though I have not met with you before but I believe one has to risk, confiding in someone to succeed sometimes in life.
There is this huge amount of money i have (7,500,000.00) SEVEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUNSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS. which I inherit from my late father before he was assassinated by rebel force of the Government of our country on his returning from a business trip from Netherlands.
Now I decided to invest this money in your country or any where safe enough outside Country for security purposes I want you to help me to transfer this fund into your country for
investment purposes also some part of the money will be use for the help of charity and widow's in your area. If you can be of assistance to me I will be pleased to offer you 15% of the total fund.
Thank you and God bless you.Extend my warmest regards to your family.
I await your soonest response.
Sincerely Yours
Miss. Sofia Adams
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Anti-fraud resources:
