|
|
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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- ahmedbubah2@rediffmail.com (Rediffmail, India; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
- email...ahmedbubah2@rediffmail.com or ahmedbubah1@rediffmail.com name...mr ahmed bubah senior foreign audit director i.i.b.s please urgent (Rediffmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Ahmed Bubah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ahmedbubah1@rediffmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:40:00 +0300
Subject: GOOD DAY PLEASE URGENT REPLY NEEDED
EMAIL...ahmedbubah2@rediffmail.com or ahmedbubah1@rediffmail.com
NAME...Mr Ahmed Bubah
Senior Foreign
Audit Director I.I.b.s
PLEASE URGENT REPLY NEEDED
EMAIL ahmedbubah2@rediffmail.com
Dear Friend
I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met before. I am Mr Ahmed Bubah, the manager of
Auditing and Accounting section of Bank IN DAKAR SENEGAL I Hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and
confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families. I need your urgent
assistance in transferring the sum of TEN Million Five Hundred Thousand united state dollars ($1O.500mUSD)
Immediately to your account.
The fund has been dormant (in-active) for 10 years in our Bank here without any body coming for it. I want to
release the fund to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer Mr. Andreas Schranner (the owner of the
account) who died a long with his supposed next of kin in air crash since on 31st July 2000. I don't want the fund
to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund, so this is the reason why I contacted you, so that my Bank will
release the fund to you as the nearest person to the deceased customer.
For more information about the crash you can visit this site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested. Upon
receipt of your reply, I will give you more details regarding this transaction and also note that you will have
40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree to help me execute this business. And also after the funds has been
transfered into your bank account 10% will be forthe expenses we will make in this transaction and 50% is for me.
I need to hear from you urgent so that I will give you more information regarding this transaction.
EMAIL ahmedbubah2@rediffmail.com or ahmedbubah1@rediffmail.com
Your Full Name...........................?
Your Sex.................................?
Your Age.................................?
Your Country.............................?
Marital Status...........................?
Your Occupation..........................?
Your Personal Mobile N°...................?
Your Personal Fax N°......................?
Waiting for your urgent response so that we will starts immediately.
Best Regards,
Mr Ahmed Bubah .
|
Anti-fraud resources:
