|
|
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: "COX.NET" <twvhrleader@cox.net>
Reply-To: thomasandrew222@aol.com
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:53:21 -0400
Subject: WARNING !!!
Attn: Dear Cox User,
We wish to bring to your notice that we are shutting down all unused
addresses
in our site and your account was among those to be close down. We are
sending
this message to you so that you can confirm the ownership and let us know
if you
still want to continue using this account by filling the form below.
1.) Email User.........
2.) Password.........
3.) Date of Birth....
Account owner that refuses to maintain his or her account will loose
account.
permanently from our site.
WARNING !!! Email user that refuses to maintain his/her account will have
his/her account deactivated permanently.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
