|
|
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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: morizbentik <kwilliams111@att.net>
Reply-To: morizbentik <morizbentik2@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 02:45:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: YOUR SUGGESTION NEEDED
Dear Sir,
I will introduce myself as Moritz Ben, a senior accounting officer of my Bank
here in Accra Ghana.
I have a financial transaction that will benefit us. I write you in good faith
to solicit for your assistance.
On the course of the 2010 end of the year report I discovered after auditing our
account that my branch made Three Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand
United States Dollars ($350.000.00) of which no one is aware of it as I have
already submitted an approved end of the year report for the year 2010 to my
head office. I have since then PLACED this fund on a SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without a
beneficiary.
As an officer in the bank,I cannot be directly connected to this fund hence I am
compelled to request for your assistance to receive it into your bank account. I
intend to part with 40% of this money as gratification to you while 60% will be
for me but I need your own opinion.
There is practically no risk involved in this transaction. It will be a
bank-to-bank transfer and i have mapped out plans of executing it with full
co-operation of our database administrator who is the only person aware of the
fund cause we cant work without him. He will provide the necessary information
into our bank's database to give the transaction the required history/legitimacy
as well as identify you as the depositor of this fund if you accept to go along
with me.
All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund and
provide an account where it could be transferred by our head office. I will
appreciate your timely response as soon as you receive this mail.
NOTE: To indicate interest, please drop your name, phone number and ID for
better explanation.
With Regards,
Moritz Ben.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
