|
|
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: Lista Cannon <kabel55@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: cannon.lista@rediffmail.com
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:47:07 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Ref: Information about Your Family Tree-!
Ref: Information about Your Family Tree-! We are legally empowered to track and to reunite unclaimed funds with distant relatives of people who died (Intestate)without leaving a "will" and after an extensive genealogy research, we have traced a dormant termed deposit bank account with your surname and the account has substantial amount of money on it tagged "unclaimed fund". If no claim is made immediately on this substantial legacy the bank will be compelled by the law to hand over (as unclaimed fund) to the government. So I want to claim this legacy by the advantage of your similar surname with the deceased, therefore need your co-operation. It may interest you to know that every year thousands of people (especially foreigners) die without leaving a will or known next of kin, thereby forfeiting so much unclaimed legacy with huge monetary value to the government. There is a time limit at the discretion of the Treasury Department when claiming
such inheritance hence the need to act swiftly to reconcile this legacy with your names. In a recent news report, "there is currently more than $30 Billion in unclaimed legacy and with total of unclaimed money rising faster than people claiming. It is projected that in the year 2020 there could be as much as $40 Billion of unclaimed legacy. Aging population is adding more significantly to this number". This is what prompted us to locate you. Contact this law office immediately.Kind regardsLista Cannon (Esq.)
|
Anti-fraud resources:
