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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: IVAN <ssamsonkwesi@gmail.com>
Reply-To: keyclinton0@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 10:06:28 -0700
Subject: HELP ME. IN UKRAINE.
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Hello
I am Ivan Pushkin, a Ukrainian business person trapped in the on going
invasion by Russia, I need your help to secure my wealth in your
country as the wealthy are the 1st targeted by Russian invaders, we
are hiding in underground bunkers so we have limited communication
ability, so I ask you to take this message seriously.
All you need to do is indicate to assist me and receive the fund and
invest it in your country while I make efforts to locate my wife and
daughter and get them out of this country safely and we all get out of
the Ukraine to join you.
If you do this you will get one 10% of the fund invested. If you can
help please reply
Ivan
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Anti-fraud resources:
