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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Giorgos"<kontogiorg@craftmindz.com>
Reply-To: <giorgoskontogiannis744@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2023 21:42:07 +0200
Subject: Re: My Apology, MY PREVIOUS MESG.
I apologize for contacting you through this meduin because this medium of communication (internet) has been grossly abused by criminal minded people making it difficult for people with genuine intention to correspond and exchange views without skepticism.
I am making a final attempt to reach you again because My previous mails were returned as undelivered. I am the Auditor General, Bank of Greece. In the course of my auditing last month, I discovered a floating fund in an account, which was opened in 1999 belonging to a dead foreigner who died in 2002. Every effort made to track any member of his family or next of kin has since failed; hence I got in contact with you to stand as his next of kin. He died leaving no heir or a will, I will explain my intention to you if only you are INTERESTED and I can TRUST you.
Regards
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Anti-fraud resources:
