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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Gabriel Odenga <cbntundelemong@gmail.com>
Reply-To: gabrielode44@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2018 12:37:18 +0100
Subject: Can you sincerely work with me?
Attn : Sir/Ma,
My name is Gabriel Odenga and I am contacting you with reference to a
late client of mine,a foreign national and a construction Engineer
here in Lome-Togo, who died along with his family in an auto accident
without any known beneficiary to his Estate .
The Bank has issued me a notice to provide my late client's next of
kin/relation or they will have the deposit funds confiscated if I fail
to provide any. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the
relatives of my client, I am contacting you to assist me in claiming
the sum which my late client deposited with a bank here, since you
both have the same last name.
Looking forward to hear from you.
Best Regards
Gabriel Odenga
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Anti-fraud resources:
