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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:
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.James Kowaleski " <michealperp@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrjameskowaleski9@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 20 May 2022 07:03:04 +0100
Subject: Greetings to you!.
Greetings to you!.. I felt it was so expedient to write to you about
this wicked conspiracy hatched by the duo of Mr. Benjamin Markel and a
minister of Finance Staff, with some numerous bad people to divert
your funds to Europe and Asia into their offshore accounts. This is
why I decided to alert you concerning what is going on and they are
doing everything possible to move the funds. The Global Security
Company is holding the money for clarification reasons and would
release the funds once you respond to this message and I will provide
you with their contact information asap.
These dubious individuals might have started frustrating you by asking
for endless fees to be paid before you receive your funds. All these
are just to buy time for their selfish plans to materialize, as they
do not have any plans or intentions of transferring your funds to you
from the beginning.
Note: That I have your transaction reference number that you will
quote to the concerned security company where your funds are currently
deposited, this will not only frustrate the efforts of those thieves
but will put you into the rightful position to receive what is
legitimately yours.
Revert back to me as a matter of urgency to enable me direct you on
how to receive your funds from the Security Keeping Company.
Finally, please do not disclose my identity to anyone because my life
would be in danger once those involved in this conspiracy know about
what I have just done. They are powerful and well connected with
Government officials here and may eliminate me or make me lose my job
and that's why I didn't confront them personally but to contact you
immediately.
Best Regards,
Mr.James Kowaleski
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Anti-fraud resources:
