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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned 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: Bernita Johnson <fiolavalla@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bernitajohnson78@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2021 10:25:47 +0000
Subject: Hello my dearest
Hi my dear
I know my mail comes to you as a surprise because you do not know me.
Please, I'm very sorry if I're disturbing your privacy. It's a
pleasure to contact you for a business that I intend to establish in
your country.
The reason I have contacted you in this way is due to the urgent need
and pressure I am now facing to find someone to help me. My late
father (Johnson who was former Minister of Economic Affairs and
Finance for Laurent Gbagbo and died on January 11, 2012, but before
his death he deposited a huge sum of eight million Six hundred
thousand Euros, (8.6 million) in one of the leading banks here in
Abidjan Ivory Coast.I am looking for your help as soon as possible to
guide me on how this money will be transferred abroad so that I can
move from here to continue my education in your country while you take
responsibility for the investment with the money.
I humbly seek your divine help in the following ways; To provide a
bank account to which this money would be transferred and to serve as
guardian of this money because I am orphaned and still very young. If
you can help me, I will be happy to offer you 25% of the total money
and 5% for the expenses you may encounter during the transfer process.
Please, I'll be waiting for your reply soon so I can discuss more with you.
God bless you
Needy.Love
Mrs. Bernita Johnson.
I'm sorry if this message gets in your spam folder because of the
network failure here in my country.
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Anti-fraud resources:
