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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)
- "u.k " (this email uses bad English)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "dhl_department44000@outlook.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Bank Of Africa <ba9298920@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dhl_department44000@outlook.com
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 10:08:42 +0100
Subject: Dear Beneficiary,
Attention please
Your long awaiting ATM package worth of $2.7 Million has been signed
(Last month) and issued to DHL Courier Company on your behalf. Paul
Nelson arrived our Office in U.K late last month for endorsement of
the package delivery to your home address.
For proof to this subject, we advise you track your package online.
Website www.dhl.com
This is the tracking number: 2267560116
Once convinced by this, send agent Paul Nelson your full name and
delivery address together with your phone number to him to deliver the
package tomorrow to your home address. Do well to forward your
delivery address immediately after tracking your package online.
This package is to be received by you in 48hours time. so do well to
follow instructions. Contact the Agent through this email (
dhl_department44000@outlook.com ) to know where he is at the moment.
I await your urgent reply. Thanks
Dr Stanley Brown
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Anti-fraud resources:
