|
|
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:
- "dearest one," (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Samantha Jaiden <samanthajaiden098@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Samantha Jaiden <samantha.jaiden@live.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:50:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: My Dearest one,
My Dearest one,
I'm Samantha Jaiden 19 years the only child of late Mr. and Mrs. Malika Jaiden.
My
father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant and political godfather in
Cote d'Ivoire before he was shot to death on earlier last year by on
known people.
Before the death of my father in a private hospital
here, he secretly called me on his bed side and told me he has the sum
of three million dollar two hundred thousand dollars. ($3.2 millions) in
an account of fixed/suspend in one of the prime bank here in Abidjan
that he used my name as his only child for the next of Kin in depositing
of the funds. He also explained that it was because of this wealth that
he was shot.
I want you to help me with the following:
(1) To provide a bank account that money will be transferred.
(2) To serve as guardian.
(3) To arrange for me to come to your country to continue my studies to obtain a residence permit in your country.
I
will offer you 20% of the total sum as compensation for your effort
after the successful transfer of this money into your nominated account.
Waiting to hear from you, please reply me if you can help me sincerely.
Your sincerely
Samantha Jaiden
|
Anti-fraud resources:
