|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "thfriberg@admin.in.th" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447024096109 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "MICROSOFT INC" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thfriberg@admin.in.th>
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:58:56 +0100
Subject: Electronic Email Lottery Winner
THE ONLINE ELECTRONIC EMAIL LOTTERY
MICROSOFT AWARD 2009
Microsoft Campus Thames
Valley Park Reading Berkshire
RG6 1WG UNITED KINGDOM.
Tel:+447024096109
(CSC) Claims Security Code: CSC-74162009-04-LV-UK
We happily announce to you the draw (#1004) of the British email online Sweepstakes International program this final quarter of 2009 .This lottery
winnings was not entered or played by you.This is an Electronic Mail Award in which email addresses were used.Selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a data base of over 1,000,000.00 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world and your email address came out as one of our fifteen lucky winners.You have been approved for lump sums pay out of GBP£ 500,000.00 Five Hundred thousand british pounds) in cash Credited to Claims Security Code Number CSC-74162007-04-LV-UK.
Firstly you must contact your Claims processor: Mr Thomos Friberg only via this email address and he will get back to you with further details.
Email: thfriberg@admin.in.th
NOTE THAT THE BELOW INFORMATION IS REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR WINNINGS:1.Full Name....2.Address:....3.Nationality:
4.Tel/Fax:...5.Country:...
Signed:
(Zonal Co-coordinator).
|
Anti-fraud resources: