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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:
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "lome togo" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Farias Luiz <yapojames8@gmail.com>
Reply-To: farias.luiz.70@bk.ru
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 10:32:17 +0000
Subject: Dear friend,
Good Day!!!!
I am Mr.Farias Luiz, the bill and exchange manager at the foreign
remittance department BANK in LOME TOGO .I got your contact from the
internet, while searching for a honest and trust worthy person who
will assist me to implement this transfer. I discovered the sum of
$18.2 MILLIONS US DOLLAR) belonging to a deceased customer of this
bank. The fund has been lying in a dormant account without anybody
coming to put claim over the money since the account owner late Mr
Malsa WAZIRI from Lebanon who was involved in the December 25th 2007
Benin plane crash. The fund is now ready for transfer to a foreign
account whose owner will be portrayed as the beneficiary and next of
kin to the deceased customer of the bank. Should you be interested, so
we can commence all arrangements and I Will give you more information
on how we would handle this project. Please treat this business with
utmost confidentiality and send me the Following information's bellow;
Best Regards,
Mr.Farias Luiz.
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Anti-fraud resources:
