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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:
- 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:
- "required fee " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "gloversmith@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Engr: Glover Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gloversmith@yahoo.cn>
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2013 12:31:16 -0500
Subject: Pending Funds test
Attention:
We are sorry for the delay in crediting your bank account, we found out an error somewhere which we thought was from you and we found out that you are innocent in the case.
Now we have proceeded to credit your bank account within the next 48hours of our banking time. And we want you to be patient and believe this is going to be a hitch-free one.
This time we promise to serve you well and stand on our word as this will be a legitimatized transaction held between you and FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK, NEW YORK.
In the light above please be advised not to disclose any of your pin and transaction number to anyone for maximum security reasons.
All you have to do now is to pay the fixed sum of USD$200.00 being fee for administrative and final processing of your funds transfer which will be paid through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER in the name of our Protocol Officer in our Funds Unit liaison office in Indonesia
All other Formality has been put in place and we await your urgent response and action to the above directive, so please ensure to Follow the instructions and act accordingly to enable us credit your designated bank account immediately.
Please kindly get back to us so we can give you direction on how to pay the required fee for your administrative and final processing of your held funds in FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK,NEW YORK.
Thanks for your co-operation and understanding
Your's truly...
Engr: Glover Smith
+62-82110-418147
email.-gloversmith@yahoo.cn
P.S :NoT WHEN CALLING THE OFFICE NUMBER ASK FOR EXTENTION 6 TRANSFER UNIT
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