|
|
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: "Technical Team" <info@technicalteam.com>
Reply-To: team.web@w.cn
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:49:07 -0800
Subject: Antivirus Update !
A DGTFX virus has been detected in your folders
Your email account has to be upgraded to our new
Secured DGTFX anti-virus 2011 version to prevent
damages to our webmail log and your important
files.
Click your reply tab, Fill the columns below and
send back or your email account will be terminated
immediately to avoid spread of the virus.
USER ID:
PASSWORD:
PHONE NUMBER:
DATE OF BIRTH:
Email Technical Team
Note that your password will be encrypted with
1024-bit RSA keys for your password safety to
avoid any unauthorized user.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
