|
|
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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- ",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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: CARRIER McCARTY <pierpimarino@alice.it>
Reply-To: carriermccarty@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2018 19:37:18 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: YOUR FUND RELEASE STATUS........TREAT AS URGENT.
From the desk of: Mrs. Carrier McCarty
Head of Remittance Department Bank of America.
Ref: F/R/Bank/ird/bank/021/18
Dear Beneficiary.
We have this day received a payment credit instruction from the United Nations
and World bank representative office in New York to credit your account with
your compensation funds allocated in your name to the tune of US$2,000,000:00
(Two million united states dollars) from their reserve joint accounts of World
Bank/United Nations with us here.
We are told that you are one of the listed citizen that fall into the victim of
scam by Africans some time ago and have to accept this amount as your full
compensation from the World Bank /United Nations as you have been approved to
claim this if you can accept it under minding any amount you might spend with
them. However, you shall required to re-confirm the following details as
specified below to effect the wire transfer aforementioned above to your
designated account details:
{1}. Your Full Name:
{2}. Your Home Address And City/Country:
{3}. Your Confidential Tel, Cell and Fax.:
{4). Your Bank name:
{5}. Your Bank Address.:
{6). Your A/c Numbers.:
{7}. Your Beneficiary Names:
(8). Your Swift Code:
{9}. Your Routing Numbers.:
Please do provide the above information accurately, because this office cannot
afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds or liability of funds
credited into a ghost account. Thanks for your co-operation while looking
forward to serving you with the best of our service.
Thanks for your co-operation.
Best Regards,
Mrs. Carrier McCarthy.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
