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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- barr.greglefchak@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: barr.greglefchak@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:28:02 +0200
Subject: Will of $8.2 Million (Reply For Details)!!
I am Greg Lefchak Esq. a solicitor with the GL CHAMBERS and personal lawyer to our late client Ahmad Saad Khader Abdul-Hafez who was the chairman of Khader A. Abdul-Hafez Holding Co in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.Ahmad Saad Khader Abdul-Hafez had been closely involved in traditional family business of pearl diving in Bahrain and a well known Philanthropist, before he died, made a Will in our law firm GL CHAMBERS stating that $8.2Miilion USD (only) should be donated to any charity home of our choice overseas.We have made an electronic random draw and your name and e-mail address was picked to assist us disburse these funds accordingly. This implies that you will stand as the beneficiary to this Will so that the funds could be processed and transferred to your account. I am particularly interested in securing this money from the Bank, because they have issued a notice instructing us to produce
the beneficiary of this Will as soon as possible or else the money will be credited to the Government treasury.It is my utmost desire to execute the Will of our late client.You are required to contact me immediately to start the process of transferring this money to any of your designated Account. I urge you to contact me on the telephone number below or simply reach me on this email for further details bearing in mind that the Bank has given us a date limit. You are advised to act fast! Congratulations and I hope we could work together as a team to execute this transaction successfully. Looking forward to hearing from you. Greg Lefchak. Email:barr.greglefchak@gmail.com NB: ALL REPLIES SHOULD BE SENT TO BARR; Greg Lefchak@ barr.greglefchak@gmail.com
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