|
|
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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- kennedyrhyma1@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Sarah Moses" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kennedyrhyma1@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 7 May 2013 21:24:45 -0500
Subject: DEAR LUCKY WINNER
DEAR LUCKY WINNER,
This is to inform you that your face book account has made you to emerge winner in this our yearly winning promo, this promo comes up every May of the year by face book and $20.000.000usd is been given out to the user by face book around the globe and it's usually selected randomly through electronic machine so your face book account has made you winner of $500,000,00usdollars and you are among the luck people who will benefit from our yearly promo so feel free to contact our fiduciary agent with your information below for your claim:
YOUR FULL NAME:
YOUR COUNTRY AND HOUSE ADDRESS:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER:
YOUR AGE, SEX AND OCCUPATION
He will issue you a cheque of $500.000.00usdollars and immediately you receive your cheque it's cashable in any international bank in the world because it's an international certified bank cheque.
below is the fiduciary agent contact information
CONTACT NAME: DR KENNEDY RHYMA
CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS:( kennedyrhyma1@yahoo.com )
So, go ahead and send him your information for the claim of your winning and make sure you use your winning number as the subject to avoid delay of your claim and make sure you keep this winning to yourself until you have successfully receive your cheque and cash your fund.
Best Regard's
Mrs. Sarah Moses
Face book promo co-ordinator.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
