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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:
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Lavon Williamson <williammorgan344p@gmail.com>
Reply-To: lavonwilliamson0@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2021 09:45:23 +0100
Subject: +1 [386] 530 5403
--
How are you today? Please can you confirm this to us before we make a
mistake, somebody called me today with this number 706-925-7615 saying
that he is your brother, he said that you died since 3 days ago and
before this happened you asked him to receive the funds on your
behalf. He forwarded his address for us to send the fund direct to
him;
1121 Odena RD S Sylacauga, AL - Alabama 35150
PH: 706-925-7615
But we are not sure about this. So that is why I am writing to know if
this is true or not. Please this fund is not something we could just
make any silly mistake or sending it to the wrong person because the
money is huge amount of money $10.5million usd. So this man is getting
us confused on what he is saying about your death.
I am sending this mail to you to find out the truth before I make any
mistake. I told the man to give me 2days to think about it. The man
said that his name is Mr. Dennis he is from Alabama. So am sending this
message to confirm the truth but if I don't hear from anyone in the
next 2days I will hand over everything to him.
You are advice to reconfirm the following info;
1. FULL NAME:.....................................
2. FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:.........
3. TELEPHONE NUMBER:..................
Awaiting an urgent respon
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Anti-fraud resources:
