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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Khaled Best Ivestment"<stage>
Reply-To: khaled.jabarr@muslim.com
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 11:18:35 -0700
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE NEEDED
Dear ,
My name is Khaled Jaber the financial Officer of a Mining company in United Kingdom and also a member of the Board of Directors, Contract Awarding Committee that awards contracts to both foreign and local contractors in the giant Investment firm in United Kingdom.
I understand it is a little bit awkward contacting you through this means. But this is basically business. I want to invest together to secure a floating sum in the tune of ($100M) in my company.
This deal is 100% risk free and all i need from you is trust.
Also your country is considered open for economic activities and the return of investments are high.
Kindly reply back if you wish to partner with me and I will offer you 30% of our investments.
Expecting your reply soonest.
Best regards,
Khaled Jaber
khaled.jabarr@muslim.com
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Anti-fraud resources: