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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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- ",000,000" (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: "SAIF AL ISLAM GADDAFI" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <saifal-islam-gad@outlook.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 15:23:58 -0700
Subject: Good day
I'm Saif al-Islam Gaddafi the second son of the late great leader of Libya,. As seen on the news, i have been kept captive since the death of my father and was just recently released. I was held captive by Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade since November 2011 after my father was killed.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/saif-al-islam-gaddafi-freed-prison-zintan-170610190700610.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saif_al-Islam_Gaddafi
I'm still negotiating my total freedom and i hope i get it from the new rebels i am with now.
I studied in London school of economics and political science, had a PhD there.
I'm contacting you to help me receive the sum of $289,000,000 (Two hundred and eighty-nine Million dollars) deposited in a Spanish bank.
The money is secured because i signed a non-disclosure agreement with the bank.
Please reply for more details if you are willing to partner with me. My lawyer has all the legal documents and he is the only one that can help me secure the release of the funds from the bank
warmest regards
Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi
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Anti-fraud resources:
