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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:
- "my names are " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "From Mr.Yosef Kwok" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tom2020a@mail.com.tr>
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2020 23:50:59 -0800
Subject: From Mr.Yosef Kwok
Dear Sir,
My names are Mr. Yosef Kwok a branch manager to my bank.
I have a mutual business deal of ($7.4 million USD) belonging to my late client who is an oil business man from
your country.
From my findings he is late for ages and the funds has been here for over 8 years with no claim.
I need a reliable assistance and co-operation to move this fund out of as a Next of kin/contract fund.
If you are able to handle this, then revert back to me confidentially and no third party should have the knowledge
of this.
Kind regards,
Mr.Yosef Kwok
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Anti-fraud resources:
