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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: samuelmajok51 <samuelmajok51@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 09:20:56 -0700
Subject: Custom General Juba
Hello,
My name is Samuel Majok Majok, I am the Custom General Juba
International airport SOUTH SUDAN I intercepted gbp12.6m from a Russian
Citizen an oil business man base here in SOUTH SUDAN while attempting to
travel abroad during the crisis ,
I have already agreed with him 50/50% to free him and cover him against the
law of money laundering offense. I have a problem of how to move my share
of $12,2M abroad on cover. I can't direct this fund to my personal account
because of my duty position rather I want you to assist me to receive this
fund. If we both agreed we can share 30/70. This is 100% risk free.
Note: I have stalled all investigation on this matter and make it look
like some big misunderstanding has occurred in the seizure, and the right
now the fund is bonded at our Vault Treasury Office and nobody can have
assess to it unless the fund is out of the country. And the government has
also given directive to send back the fund to the beneficiary.since we are
through with our investigation. I would like you to be fast about this
claim haven acknowledged the fact that it is urgent.
I look forward to your mail.
Your Regard.
Samuel Majok
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