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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:
- "00,000.00" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Afryea Osei" <officialmg78@gmail.com>
Reply-To: official.smg32748@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2022 19:10:02 +0300
Subject: Help
--
My Dear,
I am Mrs. Afryea Osei, from Ghana and it is my pleasure to contact you for
a business venture which i and my child intend to establish with you.
I want to confide on you for the brighter future of my child in the hope
that you can support and assist us in getting our inherited fund moved to
your account for business investment according to your advice.
There is $7,800,000.00 (Seven Million Eight Hundred Thousand United
Dollars) which my late husband deposited with Atlantic Union Bank as fix
before sudden death.
Now i and my little son have decided to invest this money abroad where it
will be safe enough for security and political reasons.
We want you to help us so that this money can be released from the bank and
moved to you for a joint investment purposes over there for our common
benefit.
If you can be of assistance to us we will be pleased to offer to you 10% of
the total fund for your assistance in getting the fund released from the
Security Company.
I await your soonest response.
Mrs. Afryea Oseiâ€
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Anti-fraud resources:
