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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:
- "million 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)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Brian Moynihan" <info@ppsnrescue.org>
Reply-To: brianthomasmoynihan002@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2023 04:49:47 -0400
Subject: Good Day My Dear
Dear Beneficiary,
Greetings from the Bank of America ( BOA ). I have vital information which
needs to be attended to immediately. Meanwhile, Did you authorize anyone
to claim your inheritance fund?
Please note that Mr. Andrew Cox came to our office today in-respect of
your $8.6 million USD dollars which has been credited with us for the past
one year now by the U.S. federal government to be transferred into your
account.
He said that you authorized him to claim your fund as soon as possible so
that's why we are contacting to inform you that Mr. Andrew Cox want to
claim your fund $8.6 million USD dollars
This fund has been in our custody for the past one year now and we have
been waiting for you to contact us but we didn't know what is hindering
you from reaching out to us since.
So we decided to write to you to make sure that you are fine and aware
of your inheritance fund of $8.6 million dollars in our office.
Kindly get back to us with the following details:
Full Name:………………
Address:……………….
Country:…………..
Direct telephone number:……………
Occupation:……………….
ID Card:…………………..
Please cell or send me SMS urgently, cell +1(209) 243-5858
These above listed details are needed as fast as possible if you didn't
authorize anyone to claim your fund in our office.
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Anti-fraud resources:
