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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 beloved," (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Marriam Husameddine" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mhusameddine@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2020 07:57:17 -0700
Subject: Dear
Dear Beloved,
I am Mrs.Marriam Husameddine from Singapore but married to Late Mr.Hassan Armed Husameddine of Indonesia who was an oil merchandise for many years in so many country before he died in the year 2013. my late husband made a substantial deposit of 3.5 Million US Dollars with Halifax bank In London before the wicked death took him away and since then i have been battling with disease which recently doctor just told me that i have few months to live but what bothers me more is that i have no child of my own and my late husband brothers has been threatening me bad so i decided to use this fund for charity purpose.
Please for God sake get back to me so i will explain more and tell you how to go about it and your own percentage on the fund but mind you its aim is to propagate the name of God with the fund once it gets to you.
Yours in sister
Mrs. Marriam Husameddine
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Anti-fraud resources:
