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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:
- "death certificate" (this phrase is often used in inheritance scams such as next of kin or https://www.419scam.org/419-murdered-businessman.htm">orphan scams. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND <paschals498@gmail.com>
Reply-To: andreoliver855@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 15 May 2022 18:57:35 -0900
Subject: URGENT REPLY IS NEEDED
--
This is Mr. Ander Oliver from International Monetary Fund (IMF)
office, someone by the name of Mrs. Alice has come in the claim of
your fund stating that you are dead and she presented your death
certificate but I knew her proofs are worthless and then got her
arrested.
Your courier Agent is no longer available to deliver the fund to you
so therefore you have to come to our office address below with your ID
card and your International Passport to pick up your funds yourself or
you send a courier delivery Fee of USD 55.00 so we can provide a
courier agent who will deliver the funds to your home address.
You have 48hours to get back to us or we will consider you dead or
unavailable, so we will Unlock the funds and forward the ATM Card in
it to the Ministry Of Finance, which will be heading to the Government
account
Thanks
Regards
Mr. Ander Oliver
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Anti-fraud resources:
