|
|
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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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 free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- pepple.williams@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Mr.David Helb.K<info@lee.org>
Reply-To: pepple.williams@aol.com
Date: 04 Oct 2019 07:04:14 +0200
Subject: United Nations Winning Notification
United Nations/International Monetary Fund
International Reconciliation/Debt Scam Dept
UN House,
REF NO: LT/7914290166/CTV
BATCH: LM/51390-0/WGP
Attn: Beneficiary
United Nations Winning Notification
On behalf United Nations/International Monetary Fund
International,we
gladly write to notify you of your lucky win of a total of £2,
050,000
GBP (TWO MILLION & FIFTY THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS) in the
INTERNATIONAL
LOTTO CO-OPERATION of the U.N Email Lottery Promotion held on
the
17th April 2019.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in
our
computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database of over
50,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the
world
for Scam Victims who lost huge sums of money to internet
fraudulent
activities.
The INTERNATIONAL LOTTO CO-OPERATION S.A is approved by the
United
Nations/International Monetary Fund Board as well the World Bank
Directors for mainly Scam Victims.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact our
fiduciary
claims department for more information as regards procedures to
claim
your prize.
To begin your claim, please contact your claim agent Mr .Pepple
Williams Wesley FOREIGN SERVICE AGENCY/CONSULTANT.
Email pepple.williams@aol.com
Contact him by providing him with your ticket number VJETTA-UK-
VP990003- BLM.
Mr António Guterres
N.Y Secretary-General.
In Co-ordination with recently elected British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson
Mr.David Helb.K
Publicity Secretary
N.Y Monitoring Team New York
|
Anti-fraud resources: