|
|
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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- samopam@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Samuel Opam <sam.opam@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 02:35:49 +0100
Subject: Waiting for your response
*Dear friend,
l am Samuel Opam, a banker by profession from Burkina Faso in West Africa
and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of
the bank. It's my urgent need for a foreign partner that made me to contact
you for this business. I have the opportunity of transferring the left over
funds (US$11.5M) of one of my bank clients who died along with his entire
family on 31 July 2000 in a plane crash. You can confirm the genuineness of
the deceased death by clicking on this website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
I need a foreign partner who will support me because l can not claim this
money alone without a foreign partner since the deceased client (the owner
of the fund) was a foreigner.
This fund (US$11.5Million) will be shared between us in the ratio of 60/40.
I agreed that 40% of this money will be for you as a respect to the
provision of a foreign account while 60% will be for me and I want to
assure you that this transaction is absolutely legal and risk free since l
work in this bank and l have all the necessary information that might be
needed. Before we proceed, l would like to know your ability to handle this
over there in your country.
Please tell me more about the political/economic stability/monetary policy
of your country. I need to know all these because l don't want to have
problem with the Government of your country.
Kindly update me with the following information because l want to know you
more before we proceed on this transaction. Hope you will understand the
importance of this request.
1. Your full name........................
2. Your age/sex ..........................
3. your occupation ................
4. Your residential address ..................
5. Your nationality ..............
6. Your private phone number ..................
7. Your fax number ...................
I will be waiting for your response. Thanks for your understanding. Have a
great day.
Yours.
Samuel Opam
*
*samopam@hotmail.com <http://samopam.hotmail.com>
*
|
Anti-fraud resources:
