|
|
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 fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
Fraud email example:
From: "Robert Macclied" <chopper@jeffcarlisi.com>
Reply-To: cedcashvanad@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 04:44:16 +0000
Subject: Lotto Alert
ECUADOR NATIONAL LOTTERY 2012
Ref: EC/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
IDENTIFICATION NUMBER:CPEL/OWN/9876.
POSTED DATE: 31st OF MARCH, 2012.
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Dear Winner,
We happily announce to you the draw (#1353) of the ECUADOR NATIONAL LOTTERY 2012 held on
31st of March, 2012. Your e-mail which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of $450,000. Your e-mail address attached to ticket:
No: 56475600545 188 with Serial no. 5368/02 drew the lucky
No: 09.11.23.27.49.33. {36} Bonus Ball. Our South American agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
Your are to contact the following Transfer agents as stated below:
Kindly fill the below form and submit to process your claim fund.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
