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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "huge deposit" (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 next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrs.reedvictoria@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Victoria Reed" <infp@reed.org>
Reply-To: mrs.reedvictoria@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2021 20:33:52 -0700
Subject: I HAVE CONTACTED YOU BEFORE CAN I TRUST YOU
Greetings,
Firstly, I apologize for encroaching into your privacy in this manner
as it may seem unethical though it is a matter of great importance.
I am Mrs. Victoria Reed, I work with Cayman National Bank (Cayman Islands).
I am contacting you because my status would not permit me to do this
alone as it is concerning our customer and an investment placed under
our bank's management over 5 years ago.
I have a proposal I would love to discuss with you which will be very
beneficial to both of us. It's regarding my late client who has a huge
deposit with my bank.
He is from your country and shares the same last name with you.
I want to seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to my
late client who died and left a huge deposit with my bank.
I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by
as a result of this mail.
Please kindly get back to me for more details if I can TRUST YOU.{
mrs.reedvictoria@gmail.com }
Regards
Mrs. Victoria Reed.
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Anti-fraud resources:
