|
|
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.
- 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)
- "million united states 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)
- "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)
- 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.
- stephenkwesi2@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: <stephenkwesi2@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:00:50 -0400
Subject: Thirty Reasons to Go Vegetarian
Dear friend. I know this mail will come to you as a surprise.as we never
met each other in person.I am the director in charge of auditing and
accounting section in one of the leading bank here in Ghana . I Hope you
will not expose or betray this trust and confident that i am about to
expose to you for the mutual benefit of our both families. I need your
urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $1.6 000,000 Million united
states dollars immediately into your account. The money has been dormant
for years in our Bank here without any body coming for it. We want to
release the money to you as the nest of kin to our deceased customer who
died in September 11 terrorist attack in united state. I don't want the
money to go into our Bank treasury as an unclaimed fund. So this is the
reason why i contacted you,so that they can release the money to you as
the next of kin to the deceased customer. Please i would like you to
keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not interested.
Upon receipt of your reply,i will send you full details on how the
business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the
above mentioned sum if you agree to transact the business with me. if
you are interested reply through this email address:
stephenkwesi2@gmail.com Yours, Sincerely, Stephen
Watch "Chew on This," <http://www.goveg.com/feat/chewonthis/> the video
that gives you 30 reasons to go vegetarian.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
