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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: FELIX RAY LAW CHAMBERS <vantal@sampo.ru>
Reply-To: 80808080@blumail.org
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 19:55:49 -0700
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT
--
FROM THE DESK OF
FELIX RAY LAW CHAMBERS
LEGAL SOLICITORS/PRIVATE
56 JALAN RAJA CHULAN
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
ATTENTION PLEASE,
YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS CAME UP IN A RANDOM DRAW CONDUCTED BY MY LAW FIRM,
FELIX RAY LAW CHAMBERS IN KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA.
MY NAME IS ADVOCATE FELIX RAY, I HAVE A BUSSINESS OF $9.2M (NINE
MILLION
TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLARS) FOR YOU.
PLEASE CONTACT ME URGENTLY FOR MORE EXPLANATION.
CONGRATULATIONS.
REGARDS
ADVOCATE FELIX RAY
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
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Anti-fraud resources: