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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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- "a diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: F-B-I <f.b.i.@ray.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: F-B-I <F-B-I@fastservice.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2018 20:32:57 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Greetings...F.B.I
Greetings
We hope that we are on to the owner of the abandoned ATM card worth of 5 million dollars by a diplomat agent from DHL we find your ATM when we was checking some of the On-Hold packages that’s when we came across yours. Please my dear we are trying to find out if you are still in need of your ATM card or should we send it back to the origin country where it came from if you are still in need of this ATM card of yours we need you to reconfirm your full information right now and get back to us.
YOUR FULL NAME:
YOUR HOME ADDRESS:
YOUR OCCUPATION:
DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBER:
REPORTED BY MRS.TRACY VORNAN
F.B.I
THANK YOU
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Anti-fraud resources:
