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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:
- "cost of transfer" (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. )
- "are expected to pay " (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: Tony Ross <cr@sodetel.net.lb>
Reply-To: refund.payment@unitedsnations.org
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2024 12:05:09 +0200
Subject: payment
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Attn: Valued Unpaid Beneficiary,
I have tried to contact you last week but the email keeps returning back
as undelivered. I wish to inform you that based on the IMF instruction
to release all beneficiaries funds via swift wire transfer without any
further delay due to the Covid 19 pandemic and its harsh effect on
various individuals.
To perfect that instruction, the IMF& UN has released to us a
substantial amount of money as a subsidy to subsidize your high cost of
transfer.
As it stands now, you are expected to pay only $200 cost of transfer for
your transfer to take place.
Kindly get back to me immediately as we have a lot of beneficiaries to
attend to as we shall deal all on a first come first serve basis.
Thank you and God Bless You.
Tony Ross
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Anti-fraud resources:
