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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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Tofis Emmanuel <tofisemma@gmail.com>
Reply-To: tofisemmanuel@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2021 23:29:11 +0000
Subject: good morning
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Good day,
Please my name is Tofis Emmanuel.
I am the son to late Tofis Aron
My father was a businessman doing business with white government people
coming to buy gold and cotton from Burkina Faso and I came back from a
friend’s house one day and met my father and mother dead with my younger
brother.
They were shot dead by an unknown person and out of fear that the killer
also wanted me dead, I ran away to a nearby country where I have been
hiding for 11 years and I came back now to Burkina Faso and saw that my
father's business friends had sold my father's house.
I got to my father's house and met a new occupant that said the house was
sold to them by my father’s business friends and I am scared because of the
fear that the killer of my parent could be my father business friends and
they will still want me dead if they are responsible for my parent’s death.
I have gone into hidden because of the fear and I went to check my father
account with his bank to know what my father left in his account and the
bank just revealed to me that my father made a transfer of 8 million
dollars from a bank to their bank in my name into an account he opened
newly in my name before his death and the money has been abandoned in their
bank since my father died.
It is a big shock to me and I want to move this money from Burkina Faso
immediately to a foreign country where I can run to and live there please.
I need an urgent person, a God fearing person I can trust to help me
receive this money and after receiving the money I will come over to the
person’s country.
Can I trust you please, please be sincere to me.
I am very scared and I don’t want what happened to my parents to happen to
me.
If I hear from you and you are a good person, I will connect you to the
bank immediately to make the transfer quickly.
Please reply to me quickly when you receive my message please.
Tofis Emmanuel
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