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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:
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: davidwyersesq@gmail.com
Reply-To: santino411@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2019 23:04:12 +0100
Subject: GREETINGS TO YOU.
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Good day,
My name is David Wyers and I am the head of the International Payments
and Legal Services department of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation. As part of my superintendence function, I have been
assigned to handle the necessary proceedings that will facilitate the
immediate release and transfer of your long overdue approved funds.
Based on the limited availability of Foreign Exchange, the sum of
US$3.5M have been approved on your behalf for this first quarter of
2019.
You can email me back as soon as you receive this message so that I can
advise you further on the procedures and modalities that will facilitate
the immediate transfer of your approved funds.
Awaiting your immediate reply.
Yours in service,
Wyers David.
FDIC.
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Anti-fraud resources:
