|
|
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 message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr William Edward <williamedward242@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 00:53:50 +0900
Subject: Hello Urgent
My name is Mr William Edward, Australian. I am contacting you to request for your kind help in getting my brother's fund that was abandon in a bank account in a country in south east Asia since 2009.
I am contacting you to stand as the next of kin to this deposit and apply for its transfer to your account for an investment purpose.The fund is bearing Mr. John Edward Thompson an Australian as the depositor who happen to be my blood brother. I will give you more details as soon as you get back to me please ignore this mail if you cant help in this.
Waiting to hear from you.
Regards
William
|
Anti-fraud resources:
