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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: Mrs Olga Tsokova <tsokovamrsolga543@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <tsokovamrsolga@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2020 16:56:25 +0200
Subject: Republic Bank 81
Republic Bank
Center City West
1601 Market St A.
Philadelphia United States
Dear Recipient,
We wish to inform you of a payment instruction from the world bank group and the International monetary fund (IMF) to credit the sum of Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($8.5m) to the listed beneficiary scam victims. We request you furnish us with the information listed below: for easy transfer.
(1). Full Name:
(2) Address
(3) Phone number
(4) International passport or any valid id.
(5) Bank details
Please provide the above information accurately as this office can not be held liable for fraudulent funds liabilities credited to phantom accounts.
Treat this letter very urgently.
Bank Manager
Mrs Olga Tsokova
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Anti-fraud resources: