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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: "Petrus Vermeulen" < petrusver937@europe.com>
Reply-To: <petrusver937@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2022 17:27:55 +0200
Subject: A CLARION CALL
Attention: Sir/Madam,
A clarion call from a distressed Investor in Ukraine. My Principal became distressed following the Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Business operations have stopped as foreign reserves of The National Bank of Ukraine(NBU), the central bank, have all been frozen. My principal, as a prominent member of the defunct Russian capital owned by Russian state corporation, wishes to immediately relocate her financial funds which were quickly moved to a nearby country. Funds are ready to be re-invested.
I am open for more confidential discussion.
Thanks
Best regards
Petrus Vermeulen
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Anti-fraud resources:
