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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 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.
- johnkwame01@rediffmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "John Kwame" <johnkwame01@rediffmail.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:40:27 +0200 (EET)
Subject: URGENT PLEASE CHECK YOUR INBOX OR SPAM BECAUSE OF NETWORK
Hello,
Thank you for taking out time to read this message despite all the spam
around. I am Mr. John Kwame from Ghana and my dear wife is very sick. She
has been diagnosed with a brain tumor so I want to give her the best
treatment available. She is in critical condition and I have limited time
to raise money to take her overseas for treatment.
I am an auditor in a bank in Ghana and there is an unclaimed fund
(18,5million USD) in an escrow account whose owner died years ago. I am
searching for someone who can receive this money into his account by
standing as the relative of the deceased.
The deceased has no living family hence there is no risk whatsoever. You
will earn 30% of the total funds within five (5) working days for your
partnership.
I wish you long life, good health and prosperity. Hope to hear from you soon.
johnkwame01@rediffmail.com
Sincerely,
john Kwame
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This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
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Anti-fraud resources: