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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "transferred into your bank account" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- officeofa89@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Mike Obi" <mikeeze773@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mikeobi566@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:36:07 +0100
Subject: Urgent
Good news for you today,
The payment of 12.5 Million USD has been approved to be transferred
into your bank account.
This payment is as a result of Inheritance Fund which is due to
you.Please acknowledge receipt of this message for more details.
Yours Faithfully
URGENTLY RE-CONFIRM YOUR DETAILS AS REQUIRED OF BLOW:
(1) YOUR FULL NAMES……
(2) YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBER…..
(3) YOUR DIRECT OFFICE TELEPHONE NUMBER…..
(4) YOUR CORRECT HOME ADDRESS……….
(5) YOUR CORRECT OFFICE ADDRESS……….
(6) YOUR OCCUPATION…………
(7) YOUR AGE…………….
(8) YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS………
(9) YOUR COPY PASSPORT…………….
(10)my privet email officeofa89@gmail.com
We are waiting to proceed as soon as we hear from you.
Best Regards.
Best Regards
Mr. Mike Obi
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Anti-fraud resources:
