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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- 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.
- duduzanezk@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Duduzane Zum" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <duduzanezk@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2018 02:49:09 -0700
Subject: Hello
Hello,
How are you today? I am Duduzane Zuma the son of president Zuma of south Africa who resigned on 14th February after the pressure from the opposition
I need your urgent assistance right now I am on house arrest all my account in south Africa has been blocked I don’t have access to my funds some of the money I have in overseas which is on my name and my father’s name I want to hand it over to you because we want the fund to be invest in your country for your assistance in this transaction I will give you 30% of the fund get back to me for more details and this must be kept confidential
Best Regards
Duduzane Zuma
Reply me on this email: duduzanezk@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
