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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "00,000.00" (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)
- 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 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.
- agent0147@sify.com (Sify; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: agent0147@sify.com
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:32:41 -0600
Subject: FIFA NOTIFICATION!!!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE JUST WON £500,000.00 GBP & A VIP TICKET TO WATCH THE-
OPENING MATCH OF FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP PROUDLY HOST IN SOUTH AFRICA. YOUR EMAIL
ADDRESS IS ONE OF THE LUCKY EMAIL PICKED AT RANDOM & ATTACHED TO TICKET#:
FIN880002/587/20IKK OF REF#: UN/95123 THAT DREW#: 44-02-31-04& LUCKY#: 77 WON U A
DIVIDEND £5MILLION GBP OF 10 WINNERS IN THE ONGOING FIFA PROMOTION TO CLAIM YOUR
WON PRIZE, SEND YOUR:
NAME
AGE
ADDRESS
OCCUPATION
LUCKY TICKET NUMBER
TELEPHONE/MOBILE & FAX NUMBER
TO YOUR CLAIMS OFFICE:
Mr. Christopher Wallaxy.
My telephone: +233541291136
Email:agent0147@sify.com
AND CALL FOR YOUR PAYMENT IMMEDIATELY. NOTE. CLAIM IS VALID FOR SEVEN (7) DAYS
STARTING FROM 02/ONOV/2009
Justicia, Orden, Paz, Amor y Verdad
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