|
|
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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fund beneficiary" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "fbi washington" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real FBI will not tell you to contact some email address. If you are in any doubt, contact an FBI field office via www.fbi.gov. )
- "robert mueller" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real FBI will not tell you to contact some email address. If you are in any doubt, contact an FBI field office via www.fbi.gov. )
- "diplomatic immunity" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "central bank of nigeria" (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: "Robert Mueller III." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <robertmmuller@superposta.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2012 17:07:52 -0700
Subject: Attention Fund Beneficiary
FBI Washington Dc
United States
Attention Fund Beneficiary
This is an official advice from the FBI department. it has come to our notice that Central bank of Nigeria has released us$10.5m payment to BANK OF AMERICA in your name , The bank knowing fully well that they do not have enough facilities to effect this payment from Nigeria to your account, They used what we know as a secret diplomatic transit payment (S.T.D.P) to pay this fund through wire transfer, but this means of transfer can not reflect to your account as this was wrong method of fund transfer.
In this regards you are to re-assure and prove to FBI that what you are about to receive is a clean money by sending FBI Identification Record and Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer certificate (DIST) to satisfy to us that the money you are about to receive is legitimate and real money.However the pending transfer will be released to your account as soon as you provide us with Diplomatic Immunity Seal of transfer certifcate. You are to forward the documents to us immediately,Should you not have it contact us back to tell you where to obtain it.
Regards
Robert Mueller III.
FBI Director
|
Anti-fraud resources: