|
|
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: "UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT" <onlinei78@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: alertaccount44@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 04:08:40 -0700 (MST)
Subject: UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT
Dear user accounts,
This message is from the Office of Technology Services (ITS) to all
webmail account owners. Due to the constant rate of spam, we are currently
undergoing maintenance and up accounts classification of all webmail and
email servers for your convenience.
All email services will be interrupted during this period to ensure that
your account is closed during this exercise will have to update it below
to know what is the condition of an account currently used with a hard
spam protector.
The exercise is to run from 05 March till end April 1, 2011 from 21:00
to about 12:00 pm so we can increase the storage size of your webmail
account. Be informed also that we will not hesitate to delete your email
account if it does not operate to create more space for new users.
UNE EPM confirm your email account details by clicking the belo link:
http://librarybookbid.org/bidform1/use/form2/form1.html
After upgrading, a password reset link will be sent to your email a new
password. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to
help protect your email account in-less than 24hours.
Webmail Account Service Team Management
Warning Code: ID67321434
UNE EPM Security Help Desk.
ABN 31 088 377 860 All Rights Reserved.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
