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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:
- 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:
- "% commission" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "WALTER SMITH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cle.larry@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:46:15 +0100
Subject: Payment Processors needed!!!
Holland and Sherry Textiles have a job offer available for any interested individual/company or organisation in United state and Canada.
We are into Textiles and based in United Kingdom, we have been receiving orders from United states and Canada which we have not been able to process our payments completely due to wide range of customers and low reach in terms of offices worldwide, so we have decided to recruit Payment Officers via the Internet hence we will be needing a representative to process our payments in this area. Every payment made attracts a 10% commission for a prospective employee and working for us would not disturb your current job if you do have one.
Interested persons should send the following information-
First name :
Last name :
Full Address (NOT P.O BOX);
Age;
Tel:
Occupation:
Bank Name;
You can learn more about us by visiting our websites at www.hollandsherry.com
Thanks
Walter Smith
Recruit Manager
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Anti-fraud resources:
