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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.
- 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.
- catherinebessant@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Catherine Bessant" <catherine@aol.com>
Reply-To: catherinebessant@aol.com
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 09:08:43 -0800
Subject: Waiting for your response.
Attn,. Please!,
Good day to you and family. How are you doing today? Hope your day is going well? This is Mrs. Catherine Bessant from Bank of America in New York, United States of America. This is to inform you that the management of this prestigious bank has been waiting for your response to our email so that we will know how you will like to receive your $2.5 Million USD that has been with this noble bank. I have personally sent you several emails for the past two weeks now and received no response from you. Please why have you not been responding to my emails? Is there anything wrong with your email account? I have been so patience by trying my very best to see that i get a hold of you so that you will not lose this fund which is legitimately yours.
Please kindly get back to me urgently as soon as you receive this email so that i tell you more about the fund.
Waiting for your response.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs. Catherine Bessant
Email; catherinebessant@aol.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
