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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Edward Donkor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ed4220180@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2019 08:22:48 -0800
Subject: CONTRACT PAYMENT?
To Whom It May Concern:
My Name is Edward Donkor. I am a Senior Bank Executive working with the Second Largest Bank in the Republic of Ghana. I have an interesting and fantastic proposal from a Political Exposed Person and a friend of my Bank.
There is a Large Sum of Money in USD Currency belonging to the aforementioned person which has been mapped out for Foreign Investments and Intelligent Safekeeping. I have been asked to source for a reliable and trustworthy person that has the capacity to receive the funds and at the same time invest the funds wisely. If you are interested, please do get back to me with your details.
Sincerely
Edward Donkor
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Anti-fraud resources: