|
|
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:
- "the consignment" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "million united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Dr Richard Kofi <info@drricharddesk.org>
Reply-To: dr.richarddesk@consultant.com
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2014 23:52:00 +0100 (CET)
Subject: REMITTANCE OF YOUR FUNDS TO YOU VIA DIPLOMATIC MEANS
Hello,
On behalf of the United Nations Board on foreign remittance, We have decided to notify you after the meeting that was held yesterday regards your due compensation funds which was supposed to be transferred via the online swift system to your bank account weeks ago but due to the new system which was introduced by the IRS and the IMF, the transfer was not successful.
However, we have already concluded that your funds cannot be confiscated or declared as abandoned funds so to this ends, your due funds $6.2 Million United State Dollars has been packaged into a diplomatic consignment box which is going to be delivered to you in your home by a reliable diplomat who will be coming over to your country by this week.
I made sure that your funds was well packaged into the consignment box and that the box can be tampered with until it get to your destination because its a metallic and it has a security lock which will prevent any unauthorized access. Now the diplomat is ready to proceed with the delivery but before that you are required to re-confirm the following information correctly to me upon receipt of this email so that the delivery procedure will commence:
1). Your full Names: (2). Your Identity such as, International Passport or
D/License: 3). Nationality: (4). Your Contact Phone Numbers:
5) Home Address: (6). Age (7) Occupation:
(8) time to get you on phone:
Please bear in mind that am only doing this for your sake and to make sure that your funds get to you and i will appreciate your compensation immediately the assigned diplomat get the box of the funds to you.
One other thing i want to point out here is that we did not declare the content of the box to the diplomat for security reasons because most diplomat can be tempted once they know the value of what they are conveying so in your contact with him you are advise never to disclose to him that the consignment box contain these amount of funds.
I will be waiting for the needed information so that the delivery will commence.
Regards
Dr Richard Kofi
Regional Director Accra Ghana
United Nations Development Programme
|
Anti-fraud resources:
