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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:
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK." <subirb25@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: henrymorganpaymentdept@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:19:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: African Development Bank Cotonou foreign operations/transfer dept.
African Development Bank Cotonou foreign operations/transfer dept.
From; the desk of Mr Koffi Adams
Managing Director/Chief Executive,
Direct line; +22996827400.
Attention; Beneficiary,
This is to inform you that we received final instruction from our corresponding bank in Ghana which is Ecowas bank of Ghana to transfer the sum of $10.5m usd only in your favour inrespect of your overdue contract/inherittance payment.
We are hereby contacting you to fill up the following informations below to enable our bank process the funds transfer.
FULL NAME ...................................................
ADDRESS......................................................
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN..........................................
OCCUPATION...................................................
AGE...........................................................
SEX...........................................................
YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER(MOBILE).................................
NAME OF BANK AND ACCOUNT DETAILS..............................
ANY PERSONAL ID IF AVAILABLE..................................
As soon as those informations requested received for confirmation as the beneficiary of the contract funds, you will be updated with the details on how you will receive your funds payment.
Thanks for your co-operation in this transfer transaction.
Your's in service.
Mr Subir
Personal secretary to
Mr. Koffi Adams.
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