|
|
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:
- "mrgregnelsonclaimsunit@w.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
Fraud email example:
From: Eircom Entertainment Lottery <magsfitz@eircom.net>
Reply-To: "mrgregnelsonclaimsunit@w.cn" <mrgregnelsonclaimsunit@w.cn>
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:03:55 +0100 (IST)
Subject: Congratulation From Eircom Entertainment (You Have Won)!!!
Eircom Lottery Compnay.
#46 Kempshott Road,
London, SW16 5LQ
United Kingdom.
Ref: XYL /265104690937/05
Batch: 20/0019/IZP0
Winning number:PL/090888/69
Congratulations Email User,
The Board of Directors and the International Promotion Department of Eircom
telecommunication Company in conjunction with the United Nations
Development Programme wish to gladly inform you that your email has won a
prize money of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings
(250,000.00) in our 2010 Global Upliftment Programme .
This program is aimed to encourage you to patronize our products(Eircom
webmail and Eircom Mobile network) and also help uplift families financial
status around the globe, hence no ticket sold.The selection was made
through a computer draw system attaching personalised email addresses to
ticket numbers
To claim your winning prize you are to send the following information about
yourself to the claims processing manager for verification & direction. Do
contact the processing manager with the below contact information;
Mr.G.Richard Nelson
Eircom Corporation Award Team
Head Winning Claims Dept.
mrgregnelsonclaimsunit@w.cn
1. YOUR FULL NAME....................
2. PHONE AND FAX NUMBER..............
3. RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ..............
4. YOUR AGE..........................
5. STATE.............................
6. COUNTRY...........................
7. SEX...............................
8. CURRENT OCCUPATION ...............
9.Prize disbursement option....Courier Delivery ( )........ Bank to Bank Transfer ( )
You are to choose from the above option of prize disbursement that suits
you most.
On behalf of the entire management and staff we say Congratulations once
again!.
Mrs Suzan Patrick
EIRCOM ENTERTAINMENT LOTTERY DRAWS.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
