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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:
- 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)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Richard Mendy <richardmendyy@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2021 10:22:34 +0000
Subject: I Need Your Urgent Help
I am Mr.Richard, i work as an accountant in a bank. I am contacting
you independently of my investigation in my bank, i discovered an
abandoned sum of $11.6million dollars, the money belongs to one of our
foreign customer who died along with his supposed next of kin since
July 22, 2003. The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for
19years now without anybody coming for the claim of it. I need your
urgent assistance in transferring the fund into your private bank
account.
I want the bank to release the money to you as the nearest relative
and next of kin to our deceased customer. The banking laws here does
not allow such money to stay more than 21years because the money will
be recalled to the bank treasury account as unclaimed fund. That is
why contacted you for a business deal where this money can be shared
between us in the ratio of 40% for you and 60% for me by indicating
your interest i will send you the full details on how the business
will be executed.
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Anti-fraud resources:
