|
|
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:
- "fund beneficiary" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Bempong Alex" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alexbempong@kimo.com>
Date: Fri, 17 May 2013 01:14:59 +0100
Subject: CHANGE OF BENEFICIARY!!
Office of the General Pay Master
Ministry of Interior and Economic planning,
Republic of Ghana.
P.O. Box U64 Accra
Attention Beneficiary,
I am Bempong Alex Jr the General pay master for ministry of interior and Economic Planning. Further payment directives was received from the office of the president in conjunction with the house of parliaments to pay the sum of $6.3M to you.
It was discovered during the processing of your file that the fund beneficiary name has been changed and replaced without proper documentation. As a result of this, the minister for Finance and Economic Planning has ordered that we stop the payment until we get a mandate from you authenticating this change.
If you are aware of this development, please kindly give us the name of the new beneficiary but if not please furnish us with the following information to enable verify the authenticity of your claim to avert making payment to a wrong person
1 Full Name:
2 Contact Address:
3 Telephone & Fax numbers:
4 Occupations
5 Age Aggregate
6.Next of kin
7.Your Alternative Email Address:
We are of candid opinion that you remain calm while we do our best to ensure that your fund is paid to you without further delay/hitch.
Regards,
Bempong Alex Jr
General Pay Master
Ministry of Interior and Economic planning
|
Anti-fraud resources:
