|
|
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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "transfer into your account" (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)
- "million 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)
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "ibr;moha" <nobdda@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mckh254@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2020 00:22:26 +0100
Subject: Are you interested
Dear Friend
My name is Dr Ouedragou Tiene; I am the Manager of Audits and Accounts
Department at United Bank for Africa (UBA) here in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso. I got your email contact through electronic media
chamber of commerce business doctorate and I believe you are a
trustworthy person. Please I need your assistance to champion this
business for our mutual benefit.
In my department I discovered an abandoned sum US ($10.5) Million
dollars in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who
died along with his entire family in 2014 Algeria plane crash.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his
next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release
it unless somebody a (Foreigner) applies for it as next of kin to the
late customer but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next
of kin died along-side with him at the plane crash leaving nobody
behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now
decided to make this business proposal to you,
So that the money can be release and transfer into your account as the
next of kin. And I agreed to offer you 30% of this money as my foreign
partner upon transfer of the fund into your bank account.
You should contact me immediately if you are interested. I hope to
hear from you for more details.
Thanks
Dr Ouedragou Tiene
68712891
|
Anti-fraud resources:
