|
|
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: tds help desk <wmwenge@unza.zm>
Reply-To: administrator_webmail@zoho.com
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:38:46 +0200 (CAT)
Subject: CUSTOMER HELP DESK
This message is from TDS.NET Helpdesk to all our email account
subscribers.Due to the recent Phishing email/attack on our database by a new
virus called SPEK155.'IT Helpdesk' will be upgrading to the latest version of
the TDS server and all accounts needs to be re-validated and upgraded to the
new 2012 anti-spam version.You are advised to provide us the below information
withing the next 72 hours so that your account can be re-validated and upgraded
to the new 2012 anti-spam version or you stand a risk of having your account
Deleted from our database due to the menace of this virus.
User Name:
Password:
Confirm Your Password:
Thank You.
tds Helpdesk
Warning Code :ID67565434
|
Anti-fraud resources:
