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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- gberrot1186@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Berrot Grillo <customerservices127@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Berrot Grillo <gberrot1186@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2019 04:38:17 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Dear Beloved
Dear Sir/Madam,
This is Mr. Berrot Grillo. I work for Fidelity Investment India as Head of-fund management in charge of India and United Arab Emirates (UAE). I handle all our Investors Treasury Bill Deposit that gives me access to grade with our Investors Funds on Private Arrangement. In addition, I have made an average of US$42.870m (Forty-two Million, eight hundred and seventy thousand United State Dollars) through Private Trading with our Investors Treasury Bill Deposit while the said funds are
currently lying as Floating Capital in our Treasury Bill Magellan Trust Account.
Nevertheless,I am not permitted by law to own or keep the above mentioned amount as my personal funds without declaration of source and origin or the funds to the Indian and UAE Government and to the Management of Fidelity Investments. Therefore, I need someone that will work with me to claim the aforementioned funds as an investor without fear or favor. If you are interested, I will provide you with more details on how this deal works.
This is a fair deal without any risk attached and will be legally transacted. Our sharing ratio is 60:40. I look forward to hearing from you for further discussion of
this pending transaction. And you can Contact me through this E-mail (gberrot1186@yahoo.com) Thank you for the anticipated Cooperates.
Kind Regards.
Berrot Grillo
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Anti-fraud resources:
