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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)
- "chief auditor" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "samuelmor247@outlook.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Samuel Morgan <willywood4love@gmail.com>
Reply-To: samuelmor247@outlook.com
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2018 23:53:33 -0700
Subject: I'M MR SAMUEL MORGAN
Greetings,
Please, kindly take your time to understand the content of
this email. I am contacting you for an important, business and
confidential matter reference to our bank customer.
I am a banker by profession and currently holding the position
of Chief Auditor in a reputable bank in my country. I have the ability
to transfer unclaimed funds of (6.2 million dollars) that belong to
one of our late customer without any known beneficiary to the fund and
if left unclaimed will be transferred to the state treasury account. I
am now faced within decision about who to pass the fortune to. I
therefore seek for your assistance/partnership in presenting you as
the next of kin to the estate he left behind for our sharing.
Contact me back if you are really interested and willing to
participate in this project. I will give you comprehensive details
about this transaction how we can handle this together. I wait for
your quick reply on this. ( samuelmor247@outlook.com ) email me back
through this email in Bracket
With best wishes,
Mr. Samuel .J. Morgan
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Anti-fraud resources:
