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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"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:
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- 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 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.
- peterkingsley1010@yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Peter Kingsley" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <peterkingsley1010@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 03:43:50 +0700
Subject: Congratulation!!!!
ONLINE EMAIL LOTTO LORE COMPANY.
Address: 2576 White Oak Dr. Southside, A
labama 35907 North Pole. USA.
Congratulation!!!!
Your e-mail address have just won you One Million United States Dollars only ($1,000.000.00 USD) in the Email Lotto Lore 2014 Lottery Promotion held Saturday February 15, 2014.
Please Keep this winning numbers confidential to avoid double claims, and you must quote it in your response.
Winning Number: 3 6 12 14 25 28 Bonus 36
Copy and paste this Link { http://www.lottolore.com/lotto649.html } carefully for verification of your winning number and make sure you contact Mr. Peter Kingsley Immediately with the below claim requirements.
==========================
WINNING CLAIM REQUIREMENT.
==========================
1. FULL NAME:
2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
3. PRESENT ADDRESS:
4. DATE OF BIRTH:
5. OCCUPATION:
6. TELEPHONE NUMBER:
7. MARITAL STATUS:
Contact this office with your winning numbers for more details:
EMAIL LOTTO LORE 2014 CLAIM ENQUIRIES OFFICER
Mr. James Adams
Email: peterkingsley1010@yahoo.co.jp
Once again Congratulations from members of E-mail Lotto Lore Promotions.
Sincerely Yours
Mrs. Peter kingsley
Publications Department Email Lotto Lore
This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and
privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient,
please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this
e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this
information by a person other than the intended recipient is
unauthorized and may be illegal.
Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd.
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Anti-fraud resources: