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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "confidential business" (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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- don.pat456@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Donald Patrick" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <don.pat456@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2018 05:35:39 -0800
Subject: INFO
Feb 07 2018
From: don.pat456@gmail.com
Subject: HI
I know this email will come to you as unsolicited considering the fact that you do not know me or
my boss directly . Presently i am saddled with the responsibility to urgently search for a partner for
a mutual and confidential business relationship. I resulted to this medium as the only means available
at the moment to achieve the desired goal.
My name is Mr. Donald Patrick, presently living in South Africa. I worked directly under The Late
Muammar Gaddafi family and then Government.
After the sad death of the former head of state, his family moved out of the country with a lot of
Family valuables for investment which include cash "USD$ with other foreign currencies".
I in my capacity as a loyal and trusted ally of the family has been mandated to look for a capable
hand that can handle this investment project.
I am willing and eager to share more details which includes the amount of cash involved with the
other valuables and also discuss terms of this business relationship with you if only you are interested.
Your quick and timely response will be appreciated to enable me explain in details all you need to
know and the way forward.
You can contact me via this e-mail don.pat456@gmail.com
or phone number +27 631 556 550.
Best regards,
Donald Patrick
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Anti-fraud resources:
