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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Allen Campbell" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrallencampbell@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 May 2018 13:35:54 +0100
Subject: Dear Sir/Madam,
FORMAT BELOW
United Nations Home Equity Relief
309 Hay's Lane
London SE1 2HB
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Mr. Allen Campbell, the Director of the United
Nations Home Equity Relief. Our global head office is
located as mentioned above.
We are looking for a Home Equity Line of Credit Account
owner who will be interested to participate in helping us receive
payments on our behalf from our teeming individual and
corporate sponsors who are about to start funding our
global charitable activities.
You will be required to take 20% of each deposit made to you as
your reward and send the rest {the remaining 80%} to any of our
authorized representative or agent’s account. It will be a tax-free
transaction and it will benefit you a lot.
Thanks for your anticipated participation.
Sincerely,
Mr. Allen Campbell
Director
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Anti-fraud resources:
