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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:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us dollars" (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: "Mr. Raymond Hall" <tapjidaniel2022@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mr.raymondhall98@seznam.cz
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:42:29 -0800
Subject:
PLEASE: ARE YOU ALIVE OR DEAD:
The reason for this question is that we received an email from
Mr Jude Thomas and He said that your dead but before that you given him
Letter of Authorization to claim your (8.5MillionUS Dollars.) before your
death. furthermore, we told him what still holding the delivery
which is the delivery fee, meanwhile the package
was approved to delivery in your favor. so my dear
if you"re still alive i will like you to get back to me ASAP
and your also required to get back with your following information:
Receiver Name :
Receiver Address :
Phone number:
we asked him to call back on Monday, so that we can confirm
from you first. Are you aware of this? Take note of this
now. so that we can stop further communication with Mr Jude Thomas and
deliver the package to your door step being the original
benefactor of the $8.5Million US Dollars.
Best regards.
Mr. Raymond Hall.
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Anti-fraud resources:
