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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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: charlenebakari01@gmail.com
Reply-To: charlenebakari@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2019 18:07:32 -0800
Subject: my subject
Dear Sir/Madam
My name is Ms. Charlene Bakari i have interest in Investing in your country into a Joint venture and I have cash deposited in Security Company here and can move it to your country through good arrangement by bank or diplomatic channel, if you can be able to meet the formalities that is need by the security company were the money is been deposited.
Upon getting the below information from you I will let you know the actual amount of the money that is involve and the country where the money is been kept and as well send you prove of fund. Note that I am doing this because of security reason
1. Your Full Name.
2. Home phone & Cell Phone
3. Any form of Identification either Driver’s license or International Passport.
Upon receiving the mention information I will let you know how to contact the security company for immediate realise of the fund and arrangement to get the money transferred to your account .
Your Sincerely
Charlene Bakari.
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Anti-fraud resources:
