|
|
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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr John Ali <johnail1968ali2400@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johnail1968ali@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2019 23:21:18 +0300
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT ATTENTION
--
Dear Beneficiary
Kindly permit me to introduce myself; I am Mr John Ali, a certified
Chartered Accountant and Auditor. I was invited by the Nigerian
Government to help audit the administration of their former President
Dr. Johnathan Good luck.
We were asked to look into how they handled all international payments
such as INHERITANCE, CONTRACT, AND SUPPLIERS OF ITEMS DURING THE
REGIME. My team is to check all payments out and make sure they are
well balanced.
We detected so much irregularities and frauds during our audit, what
is most painful about this is that we detected that a lot of
beneficiary's from many parts of the world having spent lots of money
regardless to receive their payments and at the end their funds were
not released to them. Your email address was found on the list that is
why I am contacting you.
We have already sent our reports to the Federal Government and point
very hard to the Federal Government on cases of beneficiaries who has
lost so much of their hard earned money in respect of their payment
and their payment was still not release and it is on this regards the
Federal Government of Nigeria mandated my team to handle the payment
of beneficiaries and make sure their payment is released in as much as
due / legal process is been followed by the beneficiaries.
I will need you to work with me in total trust and corporation, I am a
trust worthy man hence I will be open and sincere to you. Kindly
forward your reachable mobile number and residential address and your
scan copy of your identity without delay so that I can commence your
claims.
I await your immediate reply.
Thank you.
Mr John Ali
|
Anti-fraud resources:
