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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"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: "Abdel Malik" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <aabbmalikk@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:39:41 -0700
Subject: Urgent Business Proposal
Dearest Friend
I am Mr Abdel Malik an associate of one Ghadafi seniour Aide who defected
Ghadafi's brutal regime in Libya. I am contacting you to solicit your
cooperation in an investment opportunity as a corporate consultant representing
the interest of the Aide family.His name can not be disclose at this moment
for safety reason. This became necessary from the actions of various governments
regarding the financial interest of my client in their respective countries. I
would ask for your maximmum cooperation and absolute confidientiality regarding
this proposal in order not to compromise the interest of my client.
If you could be trusted and can assist with this proposal, further explanations
including the modus operandi will be explained in my next letter to your
goodself.
Sincerely
Mr Abdel Malik
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Anti-fraud resources: