|
|
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:
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "remain blessed" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: John Wanoa <p.mfidelity@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: John Wanoa <rrdinvestment@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:04:38 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Re-co-operation
Â
Hello,
I wish you and your family long life and prosperity. I know you will be surprise receiving my email but feel free and let’s work together. The reason why I contacted you is to know more about your company or your business for investment. I am John Wanoa, financial officer. I personally discovered sixteen Million eight hundred British pounds in a dormant account under my custody during our Banks Annual Year Account Auditing. This account has no beneficiary attached to it and nobody has operated this account up till date.
Moreover, this fund will be confiscated by our banking ethics if it remains dormant for period of ten years without any claims. In this regard, I earnestly need your full cooperation in transferring this fund to foreign account of yours for investment to avoid our bank confiscating this fund. I am using this moment to give you the cognizance and also to seek your assistance to this business proposal.
As the group finance director, all our client account details and files are in my possession and that makes it easy for me to include your name as the beneficiary of the fund in all necessary documents involving the money we wish to transfer. All required arrangements have been made for the smooth transfer of the funds into your account and your acceptance is what will crown this effort.
Please, do not view this as an illegal business but an opportunity for us to enrich our hope to help the less privilege instead of converting this fund to government treasury.
It will be my interest to finish this transaction with you hoping that you will not cheat or blackmail me at the conclusion of this goal. If you can be a collaborator to this transaction indicate your positive interest for us to proceed.
I am waiting for your positive response.
Thanks and remain blessed.
Best regards
John
|
Anti-fraud resources:
