|
|
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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- lopez_williams1@rocketmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Lopez Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lopez_williams1@rocketmail.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2013 06:52:20 -0800
Subject: Very Important
Dear Friend
I am Mr.Lopez Williams i am a practicing property attorney by profession,I am the intimate and entrusted personal attorney to late Mr. G. Josef from your country who was a Gold merchant in hygienic products via West African Coast tro Thailand as an import and export executive. My late client and that of his entire family were lapsed in the Phuket Thailand natural disaster on the 26th of December 2004 in the Tsunami. Now I have contacted you so that the fund that he has left behind can be transferred to your bank account through my assistance.
The fund was valued for Twelve million five hundred thousand dollars $12.5MUSD and these fund was deposited in a local bank here by my late client before the accident.
I need your private email address Your Age, your occupation,and your Telephone numbers so that I can give you more details about the claim.
Kindly reply to me so that i can forward to you the detail procedures.
Thanks and God bless in anticipation of your quick response.
Please reply me through my email address( lopez_williams1@rocketmail.com )
Regards,
Barr. Lopez Williams
|
Anti-fraud resources:
