|
|
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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Morris William" <mmorrimo@msn.com>
Reply-To: <mr.morriswilliam@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 10:49:42 +0000
Subject: RE CONTRACT FOR SUPPLY
Dear Sir/Madam,
Greetings my Name Is Mr. Morris William (Agent)
I am looking for manufacturers whose product is of good quality. The Government of Ghana ECOWAS has published their Annual contract projects, about Seventy-Two (72) Products/Items will be needed for Purchase/Supply in a larger quantity. In case you may like your company to participate to ongoing contract awarding.
I will appreciate if you can send me your Product lists by email so that i can go through it to Cross-check if you have any items needed or you can also indicate a particular product are capable to handle, so that I will Visit their Office and give you full details including quantity of items’ needed. I want you to know that the contract awarding committee makes an advance payment (Mobilization-fee) of 70% of the contract sum by telegraphic transfer and an irrevocable L/C of 30% to be confirmed by your bank account before supplying
I Will also like you to know that this is open tender different kinds of product are needed so you are free to contact me for effective and efficient business. I want you to know that am a government accredited Agent. My advice to you is that since am the one that contacted you for this business, if you follow my advice you will get this contract awarded in your name or your companies’ name.
For your information if you are Interested to participate for the ongoing contract awarding tender you can reach me via email provided that you still count on me as your local agent
Mr. Morris William,
Chief Executive (Agent)
Ghana Procurement Commission
West Africa Country
Tel: +233272319644
|
Anti-fraud resources:
