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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "oceanic.dptoffic01@y7mail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "OCEANIC BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <oceanic.dptoffic01@y7mail.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:52:44 -0700
Subject: Re : ATM -900.
OCEANIC BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC .
CONGRATULATION, The ATM CARD payment center,has been mandated to issue out and ATM CARD value of {$900,000
USD} to you , Which you can use to withdraw your money in any ATM machine in any part of the world.
CONTACT OCEANICE BANK OFFICER DETAILS BELOW.
Bank Officer : Mr. Lucas Maxwell.
Email: oceanic.dptoffic01@y7mail.com
Phone Number : +234 8138-293-059
( FILL BELOW FORM ) CODE OF CONDUCT ATM-900.
NAME IN FULL ...............
DATE OF BIRTH................
AGE.............................
STATUS.............
ADDRESS..............
NATIONALITY.................
COUNTRY....................
OCCUPATION..........................
MOBILE................
I ( Mr/Mrs.............................) do hereby declare that the information given above,is correct to the best of
my knowledge and believe thesame to be true.
Sincerel
Mrs. Lisa Brown.
DIRECTOR OF ATM PAYMENT OFFICER
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