|
|
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: David Howell Petraeu <carterhull@admin.in.th>
Reply-To: <cephasarik@outlook.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 05:26:36 +0000
Subject: I have a business proposal for you
Hello
I have a business proposal for you, I was the US Army Commander in Iraq for some years, during my days in Iraq i saw millions of dollars in one of the house we arrested a suicide bomber and i have kept the secret for years, now i will ask you if you can work with me to receive this money and we can invest it into a business.Please you must keep this as a secret for me because i will not want the US Government to know anything about this.
Former U.S. Army Gen. David Howell Petraeu.RTD
commander of Multinational Force
Iraq.you are free to call me +1 940.603.8210
|
Anti-fraud resources:
