|
|
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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- 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.
- sarah94404@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Sarah John" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sarah94404@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:55:09 -0400
Subject: Dear Belived Friend
Hello how are you doing today, my name is Mrs. Sarah John, am a cancer patient will be very happy if you can help me ,I have $4.7 million (Four Million Seven Hundred Thousand U.S .Dollars Only) which i deposited in bank and my doctor said I can't leave more than four month, what I really want from you is I need to help the Needs and the Homeless Child in your Community so that they can pray for me when am no more will be very happy if you can get back to me via my private email sarah94404@gmail.com so that I can explain much more better to you
God bless you
Mrs. Sarah John
|
Anti-fraud resources:
