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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Csaba Sipos." <mmark451971@gmail.com>
Reply-To: cs1955@bk.ru
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2020 21:33:57 +0000
Subject: RE: Please I need your help?
Hello my friend,
I am very sorry to contact you through this informal means. Though, I know
that there are so many online fraud emails which have been the universal
outcry.
Please NOTE, this is very confidential.
My partner whom I executed many contracts with here in the United Kingdom
and in some oil rich African countries who happened to bear the same last
name with you died as a result of Covid-19 along with his family.
I would appreciate to work with you as a close relative or "Next of Kin" of
my late partner since I can't find anyone that is related to him or to his
wife in line with the law so that I can legally apply as the "Chief
Executive Officer" of our Joint company for our various contract payments
to be paid to "you and I" either by issuing us with "Credit Card" (in our
names) or by swift transfer to our private bank accounts under "70/30%"
arrangement.
I need your urgent reply and your sincere cooperation so that I can feed
you back with details of how we shall go about the contract payments
without any atom of legal problem.
My warm regards,
Mr. Csaba Sipos.
Country-Romania/UK.
Petroleum Engineer/Int'l Consultant.
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Anti-fraud resources:
