|
|
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 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.
- +447024092793 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: NOKIA CONNETING PEOPLE <glukhovrda@ukrpost.ua>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:46:34 +0200 (EET)
Subject: NOTIFICATION!
NOKIA UNITED KINGDOM
Friars House 157-168 Blackfriars Road ,
SE1 8EZ London, United Kingdom.
TEL: +44 702 409 2793
EMAIL: contact@uk-nokia.org
Congratulations!! You have been selected as one of the 52 lucky winners in the just concluded Nokia UK Nokia N series 2012 promotions. It is a random email selection draw and your email emerged as one of the winners in the 3rd category and you have won a Nokia N8 smart phone and the sum of GBP960,000 (Nine Hundred And Sixty Thousand Great British Pounds Only).
Your winning reference number is N8-613-2012 and your draw number is 47.
To claim your prize, you are to contact the Nokia UK head office via email or telephone with the following information;
Winning Ref No: N8-613-2012
Draw No: 47
Your full name:
Your mobile phone number:
Your residential address:
Nationality:
Age/sex:
Amount won: GBP960, 000
Phone Model Won: Nokia N8 smart phone.
Our contact information;
Email: contact@uk-nokia.org
Telephone Number: +44 702 409 2793
Your quick response to this email will help facilitate the process.
NOKIA United Kingdom
NOKIA CONNETING PEOPLE
|
Anti-fraud resources:
