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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:
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "dormant account" (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: "Mrs.Ruth Clark" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <obishehjohn993@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2019 08:40:10 +0100
Subject: Hello Friend,
Hello Friend,
I have made series of efforts to reach you on telephone concerning your funds which was discovered in a Dormant Account with our bank. I discovered that your funds was floating in an account with a financial firm (my branch) and the money could not be transferred because of lack of proof for the source of the funds also the transfer was not authorized by you since your name was in the document.I had to trace the documents to find out that the funds original belongs to you and I decided to contact you so that you can have a smooth transfer.TEN Million, five hundred thousand dollars (10,500,000.00 ) through our internet online transfer From Republic of benin to Your Country.
The account where the fund is deposited is currently dormant and if you accept the agreement then we can work and I will guard you on the step on how you can get the funds release and you will transfer the funds from you sitting room via your telephone online because that is a more secured way of doing bank transfers currently to avoid fraud.
I will be waiting for your call once you receive my proposal and I promise you that the funds will be accessible under 6 days. You can email me back with your telephone number so I can call you at better time for deep conversation on how to move forward.
Thanks
Yours faithfully
Mrs.Ruth Clark
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Anti-fraud resources:
