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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:
- "cashier's check" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY" (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2015 13:31:07 -0000
Subject: MUST ADHERE TO FROM THE FBI
Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crimes Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building, Washington D.C
Attn,
This e-mail has been issued to you in order to Officially inform you that we have completed an investigation on an International Payment in which was issued to you by your local bank and World Bank. With the help of our newly developed technology (International Monitoring Network System) we discovered that you were not able to complete your transfer because of the amount involved. During our investigation we discovered that your fund is still available and we have authorized the fund to be paid to you via a Certified Cashier's Check, ATM or Via Wire Transfer. We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the fund as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk free, due to the fact that you have delayed in completing this transfer. Please download the attachment and make sure you login this your email ID and Password to confirm you are the through beneficiary of the funds.You should not worry for this file is encrypted and your information is secured.We there
http://efhys.com/gb/
OR
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\TRANSFER SLIP.htm
This email has been protected by YAC (Yet Another Cleaner) http://www.yac.mx
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Anti-fraud resources:
