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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: Ms Jane Abraham <janeabhm@nibs.com>
Reply-To: janeabraham08@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2018 01:58:12 -0800
Subject: Important message
Hello Sir,=20
Sorry that I wrote you without your permission . I just believe that it i=
s the will of God that I met you in an online portal . I want you to help m=
e receive this $14,386,000.00 US dollar and invest it in your country. This=
is genuine transfer offer/deal from my bank branch where I am the manager =
. Feel free and send me your Full name ........................., Address..=
.................... and mobile number .................so that we can esta=
blish contact with the bank head office and I will present you to them as t=
he owner of the fund deposit in an Escrow account in my bank branch for the=
quick and urgent transfer of the funds to your account as the real/origina=
l depositor of the funds. Yours truly
Ms Jane Abraham (Branch Manager National Investment Bank Ghana)
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Anti-fraud resources:
