joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
 Free trial for 30 days
   jwSpamSpy
Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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:

Fraud email example:

From: "support@paypal.com.au" (may be fake)
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2014 23:17:08 -0400
Subject: We are currently investigating the following transaction:
Transaction ID: 9PPL66010JK9887988 If this email doesn't look quite right Click here
PayPal tm

We are currently investigating the following transaction:


-----------------------------------
Details of disputed transaction
-----------------------------------


Seller's Name:Miss Allison G Hopkins
Seller's Email: alastair68@bigpond.com.au
Seller's Transaction ID: 9PPL66010JK9887988

Transaction Date: Monday, August 04  , 2014
Transaction Amount: AUD 200.00 $
Your Transaction ID: 9PPL66010JK9887988
Case Number: PP-017-613-800-317

Buyer's PayPal ID: 9PPL66010JK9887988


The seller has been asked to provide more information about this
transaction. During our investigation, the funds will not be available in
your PayPal account. If the case is decided in your favour, we will refund
you for the amount of the transaction.

Yours sincerely,

PayPal
To see the details of this case,log in to your PayPal account.
Find out more here.
Forgot password   |   Contact us   |   Privacy
The PayPal service is provided by PayPal Australia Pty Limited (ABN 93 111 195 389) which holds Australian Financial Services Licence, number 304962.

Contacting PayPal:
Please do not reply to this email. We are unable to respond to enquiries sent to this address. To contact us please click through and choose Call us in order to get a passcode to quote when you call. For immediate answers to your questions, visit our Help Centre by clicking Help on any PayPal web page.

Anti-fraud resources: