|
|
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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Int'l Remittance Credit Dept" <intlremittance-creditdept@zenithbkplc.biz>
Reply-To: intlremittancecreditdept@zenithbkplc.biz
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:54:35 +0800
Subject: Treat As Urgent !!
Int'l Remittance Credit Dept Zenith Bank Plc
Tinubu Square Lagos
Our ref Zenith/TD/0021/012
Attn: Beneficiary,
RE: PAYMENT NOTIFICATION OF OLD CONTRACT/INHERITANCE ARREARS.
We have the pleasure in informing you of an approval obtained today from
the president and commander in chief of the armed forces GoodLuck
Jonathan. The Senate Committee on Contract/Inheritance Payments to pay the
entire amount owed and due to you in settlement of fund valued $2.5M USD.
We have noted with concern the wrongful withholding of your long overdue
payment by a syndicate of corrupt public officers who made several
unsuccessful attempts to divert your funds into their corrupt private
accounts overseas.
This discovery was made recently by a report submitted to my office by the
President and the Senate Committee for the Review of Foreign Debts.Based
on this approval, we have already credited the entire sum in you favour
through our bank, Please, kindly reconfirm your details and to confirm
with what we have in our records to avoid wrongful diversion.On behalf of
the Federal Government of Nigeria, we regret all financial losses you may
have incurred in the past as a result of official misconduct and we wish
to record here our appreciation for the great patience exhibited by you
and members of your company in waiting for this payment.
Congratulations!
Get Back to me Asap.
Yours truly,
Mr. Amechi Samson
Int'l Remittance Credit Dept
Zenith Bank Plc
|
Anti-fraud resources:
