|
|
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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- "facebookguidelines@live.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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!
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447045706967 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: facebookguidelines@live.com
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:45:41 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Facebook=AE_Promotions_Guidelines?=
Facebook® Promotions Guidelines
DATE: 8/31/ 2012
WINNING NUMBER: U45639GH
BATCH NUMBER: JK7635467J
REF NUMBER: 767889976
DEAR LUCKY WINNER,
This is to inform you that your Face book account has made you to emerge
winner in this our yearly winning promo, This promo comes up every new
year by Face book and twenty thousand United States of America dollars is
been given out to the users by Face book around the globe and it usually
selected randomly through electronic machine so your Face book account has
made you a winner of Five hundred thousand United State OF America
dollars and you are among the lucky people who will benefit from our
yearly promo so feel free to contact our fiduciary agent with your
information below for your claim:
YOUR FULL NAME:
YOUR HOUSE ADDRESS:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
YOUR COUNTRY:
YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER:
YOUR AGE, SEX AND OCCUPATION
Immediatly you send him the Required information Call him so that he can
quickly attend to you, He will issue a cheque of Five hundred thousand
United State OF America dollars and immediately you receive your cheque
it's cash able in any international bank in the world because it's an
international certified bank cheque.
Below is the fiduciary agent contact information.
CONTACT NAME: Kennedy John
CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS: facebookguidelines@live.com
Mobile:+447045706967
So, go ahead and send her your information for the claim of your winning
and make sure you use your winning number as the subject to avoid delay of
your claim and make sure you keep this winning to yourself until you have
successfully received your cheque and cash your fund.
Best Regard's
Mrs Sarah Moses
Face book promo co-ordinator.
Facebook © 2012 · English (UK)
|
Anti-fraud resources:
