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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:
- "required fee " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "stamp duty" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: James Alian <dipjamesalian@gmail.com>
Reply-To: stevenclifford117@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2023 23:05:06 -0700
Subject: Attention
I am writing to confirm the fact if you are DEAD or ALIVE and failure
to reply back in the next 5 hrs simply means what Rev Patrick Larry
said today was right that you are dead. As he was trying to claim your
compensation fund worth sum of $45.500.000.00 US dollar from United
Nations Government for USA scams victims. Rev Patrick Larry has even
agreed to pay the needed required fee for the Bond Stamp Duty fee of
your funds, but we have not gotten the money from him yet, as we want
to find out if you are dead or not, below are information needed from
you
Name............
Phone...........
Address.........
Email...........
Occupation......
So if you are still alive you are advice in your own best interest to
reply back immediately with your full details on the stated below for
fund.
Best Regards
Mr.Steven Clifford.
Address::. 775 K Street NW, Suite 500. Washington, DC 20006
Chairman payment transfer department UN//US.
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Anti-fraud resources:
