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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:
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: JOSEPH OTTING <us.coc@aol.com>
Reply-To: uc_coc@aol.com
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2020 03:40:09 -0500
Subject: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
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Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
United State Of America(USA)
400 7th St., SW
Suite 3E-218
Washington, DC 20219
Attention
This is to bring to your notice that the sum of($25.5M)was credited on
your bank account on the 13th of July 2020,but was put
on-hold/intercepted by our office due to issues on legal
documents.Please kindly respond to this message to clearify us on some
issues concerning legal documents to enables us clear your fund to
reflect on your bank account if we are satisfied with your
reasons/answers.
Signed
Joseph Otting
Director
US Comptroller Of Currency
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Anti-fraud resources:
