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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:
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Djimon Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <djimonsmith10@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2019 08:41:31 -0600
Subject: Please confirm receipt of this email
I see it very important and polite to introduce my self properly to you since we have not had any previous communication. My name is Djimon Smith I am the financial adviser to Mrs Mugabe the wife to the former president of Zimbabwe . I have a very important proposal for you.
We have some huge amount of money a total of $20m in our possession and seek your esteem personality in all honesty to have it invested by you in any viable venture with very high return on investment ROI you will advise.
This funds has no legal implications and there is no risk involve.
Upon your response and acceptance we will arrange to have a meeting with you on face to face bases so that we get to know each other better before we swing into full actions of having the funds released to you as the funds beneficiary from the financial institution where its presently been deposited.
I thank you for creating the time to read this and looking forward to a favorable reply.
I will contact you on phone after your response so I advise you drop your phone number for easy communication meanwhile, let's communicate via email for now.
Your soonest response will be most appreciated.
Best Regards
Djimon Smith
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Anti-fraud resources:
