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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "Barrister William Clark" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bwiliamclark2001@consultant.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 23:35:53 -0800
Subject: Can i trust you?
Dear Friend,
I am privileged to contact you on behalf of our client who is a
politician and would Not want to be known as owner of the business in
any part of the world, thats why we are seeking for you to have 100 %
control of the investment in a means of expanding and relocating our
business interest abroad in any lucrative profitable business which
facilitate and refund any business that is capable of generating
annual returns based on the capital investment on Joint Venture
partnership bases.
The only criteria to work with you is,you must have an active running
business or been employed with prove not a total unemployed personnel.
and Lastly must have good financial business credibility with prove.
We are seeking for a credible and trustworthy investment partner on
Joint Ventures Partnership in any reliable business/project.
This decision is due to the good economic stability we have seen in
your region.
We wish to invest this fund outside the Gulf Region where you will be
acting as the manager and sole controller of the investment and the
fund for a period of of two years for a trier then will be renewed
again for a period of ten years after your returns.
Thanks for your corporation in advance. Look forward to hear from you.
Regards,
Barrister William Clark
Senior partner, faizel law firm Association (South Africa)
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Anti-fraud resources:
