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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:
- "my names are " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. C Ajegbu" <sergeanderson50@gmail.com>
Reply-To: abwalaihu2299@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2021 00:26:36 -0700
Subject: From the Desk Of Mr. C Ajegbu
Dear
I hope this mail meets you well; my names are Mr. C. Ajegbu and a director
in our coal corporation. I need your assistance, there is an over invoiced
contract we executed with Russian company and as a staff of the said
corporation, it will not be easy for me to lay claim to the over invoiced
sum. I needed your assistance to get the money out. I will use my position
to obtain payment approvals of the funds so that it will be transferred to
you. The sum is twenty one million, eight hundred dollars. This will take
14 days to be process and concluded. I want to assure you of no illegality
attached as the Russian Company have been settled. Please get back to me
immediately if you can assist me with this.
Regards
Mr. C Ajegbu
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Anti-fraud resources:
