|
|
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:
- 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:
- ",000,000" (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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: MR RICHARD COOK <laustin27@charter.net>
Reply-To: richardcook02@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 03:30:08 -0500 (EST)
Subject: YOU ARE TO CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION ( +447937411073 )
Surprise Surprise !!! We are heartened to inform you of the unique
result of the British National Lottery held on the 7th of Febuary, 2015.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 678950347487 with
corresponding serial number: 0147 drew lucky numbers: 84-34-23-11-20-18
which consequently won in the 3nd category. You have therefore been
approved for a pay-out
We advise you to keep your winning information undisclosed until your
claim has been processed and your fund remitted to you. It is a part of
our security procedure to avert double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this program by some unscrupulous participants. All participants were
selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000
companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all
over the world.Please acknowledge the receipt of
this mail with the details call for more information ( +447937411073 )
Claims Requirements:
1.Full name:
2.Home Address:
3.Age:
4.Sex:
5.Occupation:
7.Phone Number:
8.Nationality
9.Coun
|
Anti-fraud resources:
