|
|
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:
- 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.
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "honda car international promotion program" (no such lottery exists)
- 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!
- 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.
- h_claimoff2012@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "HONDA COMPANY UK" <info@honda.com>
Reply-To: h_claimoff2012@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:25:42 +0300 (EAT)
Subject: AWARD NOTIFICATION
HONDA COMPANY UK®.
An Affiliate of Honda Uk.
28 TANFIELD ROAD,
LONDON, UK.
AWARD NOTIFICATION®.
We are pleased to inform you of the release, of the long awaited
results of the HONDA CAR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM held on
25th April 2012. You were entered as dependent clients with:
Reference SERIAL NUMBER: 652-662 and Batch number AT-040SB06-03. Your
email address attached to the ticket number: 2752246896 that drew the
lucky winning number, which consequently won the sweepstake's in the
first category,in four parts. You have been approved for a payment of
£750,000.00 (SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND GREAT BRITAIN
POUNDS STERLING.) in cash. You are to contact your/our-accredited agent
with this information for your claim now.
1. Full Name:...................................
2. Address:....................................
3. Marital Status:..............................
4. Occupation : ...............................
5. Age:........................................
6. Sex:........................................
7. Nationality:................................
8. Telephone Number:............................
MR. Jerry Mongan h_claimoff2012@hotmail.com
HONDA SECURITY/VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT
E_mail: h_claimoff2012@hotmail.com
|
Anti-fraud resources: