|
|
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: "Mr.Walter Suare" <mr.waltersuare1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: waltersuarez@aim.com
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 22:23:35 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: Attention: E-mail Owner,
Dear,
My name is Mr. Walter Suarez; I work with the Federal
Ministry of works and housing here in Spain. I am under political
Appointment with the present government in power
My aim of contacting you
is to collaborate with me to transfer the sum of (9.5 Million Euros) Nine
Million Five hundred thousand Euros into your personal bank account in your
country of origin for investment purposes.
I am going to invest this money in your country
through your assistance and help, whereby you are going to be my Invest
Manager. Please when replying I want you
to tell me the type of investment that will
be encourage for us to invest so that we can
talk about the conditions.
Please send your phone
number and I will call you OR, Please email me back to this email address: waltersuarez@in.com
1) Your age............
2) Your full name and
address........
3) Your marital
status.........
4) Your
occupation/Profession.......
5) Your direct
telephone.......
6) Your Fax numbers........
Best Regards yours sincerely,
Mr. Walter Suarez
|
Anti-fraud resources: