|
|
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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "award009@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "PRIZE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <award009@yahoo.cn>
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 14:47:13 +0800
Subject: YOUR NOBLE PRIZE/LAST REMINDER
The Nobles Fraternity
Service to humanity
Asia and Pacific Chapter
Congratulations
This is to inform you have ben selected as a NOBLE AWARD RECEPIENT a prize money of Fifty Thousand United States Dollars
,($50,000.00)
for this year 2010 Noble award prize promotion
which is organized by MEMBERS OF THE NOBLE FRATERNITY to celebrate our founders day.
We only select five people every Year as our winners through computerized electronic balloting System
without the winner applying,
Congratulations for being one of the people selected.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
You are requested to contact your
claims agent immediately.
NOBLE AMY SOKAI
Email:award009@yahoo.cn
and send the following information to facilitate the claim process
Personal Information
YOUR NAME:
Country:
AMOUNT AWARDED USD50,000
Contact Address:
Telephone Number:
Occupation:
Age:
The copy of your id card for documentation
Frater Sheik Hamad(UAE CHAPTER)
Disbursement Committee
|
Anti-fraud resources:
