|
|
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 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:
- "moneygram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- 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.
- moneygramoffice045@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: customer care <dagent12014@gmail.com>
Reply-To: moneygramoffice045@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 19:32:52 +0100
Subject: Dear E-mail Account Owner,
Dear E-mail Account Owner,
This message comes from your (moneygramoffice045@gmail.com)messaging
admin center to All E-mail Account owners. We are currently improving
our Data base and E-mail
Account Center and creating more certainty for our Legal Service
clients. At this moment we are upgrading our data base so that there
will be mores pace for new
customers and increasing the surf on the
Internet To prevent your Email address not to be DE-activated and to
enable it up graded, you need to assist us by sending the information
below to enable us upgrade
it, so that your mail account status were flect in our data base as a
very active, use full and legal email account. Do send to us the below
information to enable us
upgrade your
Account, else your email account will lost in a short time.
First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth
E-mail pass word:
Alternative Email:
WARNING!!!E-MAIL OWNERS who refuses to upgrade his or her account
within Five days after notification of this update will permanently be
deleted from our database and
can also lead to malfunctioning of the client or user's account and we
will not be responsible for loosing our account.
Thanks for your understanding as it is geared toward serving you better.
Web mail Support Team
Warning Code: ID67565434
|
Anti-fraud resources:
