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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:
- "consignment " (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)
- "diplomatic agent" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist 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: "MR. MARK JAMES" <dryarowanda38@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mr.markjames07@seznam.cz
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2021 08:02:19 -0800
Subject: Dear legal beneficiary
--
Good Day:
I am your Int'l diplomatic agent' Mr. Mark James William by name' i
was instructed by the United Nations Legal Depth Benin Republic to
handle the delivery of your consignment box which contained all your
long awaited funds' total sum of US$15millions.
We needs your urgent responds to inform us if you still want your
funds or not, because after meeting hold today in our head office with
our government we concluded with our federal government that any one
who did not write back to us from now till weekend that person fund
will be diverted into our federal government account. Reconfirm your
delivery information below info.
Full Name.........
Current address...........
Phone number........
Looking forward to read your next mail
with a good response
Kind Regards....
Mr. Mark James
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Anti-fraud resources:
