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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:
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
Fraud email example:
From: "Gary Devra" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <devragary@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2014 16:31:28 -0600
Subject: Attention
Our company based in China is currently seeking to employ a person to work as our payment receiver in the United States of America,most of our customers in the united states of America pay through checks and these checks take long time to clear in china compared if cleared in the same country.The job function will require you to receive payment in form of checks from clients,stores and company in the United States of America on behalf of our company.
As a company payment representative in United States of America You need to have an Internet access for this job function.
JOB DESCRIPTION:
1. When you receive payment you are to contact our company via email that you have received a check from our client.
2. As soon as you contact our company via email,you are to immediately deposit the check into your bank account for clearance.
3. When the check has cleared,you will deduct 10% of the total amount on the check as your commission and you will send the balance back to our company through Western Union Transfer.Note the Western Union charges will be deducted from the balance also.To apply for this job send your information which will contain the following below:
YOUR FULL NAME: YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS: STATE: CITY: ZIP CODE: YOUR PHONE NUMBER: YOUR AGE: YOUR CURRENT OCCUPATION STATUS:YOUR NATIONALITY: YOUR MARITAL STATUS:
Best Regards
MR. Gary Devra (Recruiter)
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Anti-fraud resources: