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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "dormant 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 next of kin scam.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- barr_michaelchan@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: williams moore <Williamsmoore15@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2022 07:49:25 +0000
Subject: GREETINGS
Hello Dear,
My name is Mr Williams, I am secretary to Barrister Michael Chan Kindly go through his proposal.
I must solicit your confidence in this proposal; this is by the nature of it as being utterly confidential or top secret. I am Barrister Michael Chan, a financial Attorney to Mr. Rafik Hariri. You can view this site for confirmation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Rafic_Hariri
Mr. Rafik Hariri deposited the sum of 36,000,000 million British Pound Sterling in a bank herein London which was not traceable after his sudden death. This fund has lasted more than expected in the Bank security vault. Due to the ongoing Bank reform here in London which stated that some of the money held in dormant accounts would be used for charities and social enterprises for you can confirm this in the Sky News website below
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-150m-to-be-released-from-dormant-accounts-for-charities-and-social-enterprises-11991812
The Bank has contacted me to present his Next of Kin. It is upon this discovery that I decided to contact you on this business. If you wish to achieve this goal with me, kindly get back to me with your interest for more details about this transaction.
Thank you so much.
Barrister Michael Chan
barr_michaelchan@hotmail.com<mailto:barr_michaelchan@hotmail.com>
michaelchan@michaelchan-chambers.com<mailto:michaelchan@michaelchan-chambers.com>
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Anti-fraud resources:
