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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- julianapj005@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs Katherine Patrick" <info@cat.org>
Reply-To: julianapj005@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 08 May 2023 11:22:55 +0100
Subject: URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL
Hello Beloved,
My name is Katherine Patrick and I was born in Louisana not far from Houston Texas but married to my husband Robert Patrick from United Kingdom who working and living in Usa as of then, but we finally move down to United Kingdom my husband's home town in Wales the Northern part . I wrote you this letter because I need your assistance.
. I grew up in an orphanage and was married to my late husband for 26 years without a child and my husband died as a result of road accident in 2018. I am 68years I am currently suffering from liver cancer and my health is deteriorating speedily. Just yesterday, the specialist handling my case told me that I have a few days to live on earth and I became so worried because of the sad news he gave me.
Now, I want my inheritance funds to be used for charity works. My instinct leads me to write this letter to you and seek your assistance to handle this task in the way I will instruct you and maybe God will consider me worthy his presence when I die.
If you accept to handle the task, I shall will my inheritance funds ($20M USD) to you to start the charity work and I shall leave you with instructions on how to manage the funds.
I wait to hearing from you through this email: julianapj005@gmail.com as soon as possible.
Regards,
Katherine Patrick
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Anti-fraud resources:
