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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrs.safia5@yahoo.com.ph (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Safia Farkash Gadaffi." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrs.safia4@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:05:01 -0500
Subject: From: Mrs.Safia Farkash Gadaffi.
Hello.
I contacted you for a purpose. Please do not neglect this letter. Pay attention to this. I promise you that you
will not be disappointated and I believe that I can have a contact with you through this medium without we
knowing each other before. I am Mrs.Safia Farkash Gadaffi the wife of former late Libyan Prime Minister,
Mummar Gadaffi. Can you open a new bank account or provide me with any bank account where I can
transfer $1Billion uS Dollars and other money I and my late husband deposited in different countries?
I want you to help me and my family to secure those I and my late husband deposited in security companies
as I can not make more research to find somebody who will work with me and listen to my instruction to
secure all this money where nobody will know that you are securing it on behalf of I and my children.
I want you to know that this $1Billion US Dollars will be transfered at different instalments. All this money
being in our underground safe which I attached a copy of the it to this letter was evacuated with
presidential jet to different countries before the crisis began in Libya. I am showing it to you to have a
look on it as a proove. Please show your concern to help me and my family to secure all these money
before Libyan government will discover them. I assure you with Almighty Allah that you will not be
disappointed. If you agree to work with me, I will give you 40% on any money you secure but if you are
not interested, please keep it with in you and get back to me as soon as possible so that I will look for
another person who will be willing to secure these money. You can reach me via this information.
+22 99 299 673 673.Email: mrs.safia5@yahoo.com.ph
Mrs.Safia Farkash Gadaffi.
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