|
|
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:
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- feliciadapaah@minister.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: info@minister.com
Reply-To: feliciadapaah@minister.com
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:27:33 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Thank you
Accra-Ghana
First, I must solicit your confidence in this letter. I am Mrs Felicia DAPAAH
The director of treasury and bill exchange at the foreign remittance department
in the ministry of Mines and power where I work.
My self and three other of my colleagues in this department are in need of a
Foreign partner who will assist us with a foreign account where we can Transfer
the sum of Sixty Million, Five hundred Thousand
Dollars(US). into for investment.
This fund in question was our commission from foreign contracts, whom we
assisted to secure contracts in our ministry. The fund is presently waiting to
be remitted by One of the banks here in Ghana to any foreign bank account
presented to us.
If you are interested, email me for more details on the email below.
Mrs Felicia DAPAAH
Email: ( feliciadapaah@minister.com )
Tel:00 233 275 266 256
|
Anti-fraud resources:
