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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Janet Louise Yellen <morrissamanthan@gmail.com>
Reply-To: treasurydept012@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2021 18:21:03 -0800
Subject: IMPORTANT MAIL FROM THE U.S TREASURY DEPARTMENT
--
Hello dear beneficiary, it is from my heart I have reached out to you
today in regards to your unclaimed fund from United Nation. This fund
was returned to the United States department of the treasury by the
bank which supposed to have credited you, it was a total sum of
US$15,500,000.00 (Fifteen million five hundred thousand United States
dollars only) deposited into wells Fargo bank and was later moved to
federal reserve bank in recent time which from there was moved to
United States department of the treasury following your none response
or compliance. We have decided to inform you that your fund is here
and if you're willing to receive it then you have to provide us below
info with immediate effect to crosscheck:
Full name;
Driver's license;
Current Address;
Phone number
Yours Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury,
Mrs. Janet Louise Yellen.
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Anti-fraud resources:
