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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:
- "brownsdenis21@yahoo.co.za" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: Denis Brown <denisbrown967@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Denis Brown <brownsdenis21@yahoo.co.za>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 14:50:48 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: DEAR I NEED A FAITHFUL SOMEONE
FROMDENIS BROWN. EMAIL:brownsdenis21@yahoo.co.za  My name is Mr. DenisBrown. I am a banker with the Ned Bank of South Africa.I am still working withthe Bank, but am about to retire from active Bank service to start a newlifebut I am skeptical to reveal this particular secret to a stranger .You mustassure me that everything will be handled confidentially because we are not goingto suffer again in life. It has been 10 years nowthat most of the greedy African Politicians used our bank to laundermoney tooverseas through the help of their Political advisers. Most of the funds whichthey transferred out of the shores of Africa were gold and oil money that wassupposed to have been used to develop the continent. Their Political advisersalways inflated the amounts before transfer to foreign accounts so I also usedthe opportunity to divert part of the money hence I am aware that there is noofficial trace of how much was transferred as all the accounts used for suchtransfers were being closed after transfer. I acted as the Bank Officer to mostof the politicians and when I discovered that they were using me to succeed intheir greedy act; I also cleaned some of their banking records from the Bankfiles and no one cared to ask me because the money was too much for them tocontrol. They laundered over $150m dollars, during the process .As I am sendingthis message to you; I was able to divert more than ($50m) to an escrow accountbelonging to no one in the bank. The bank is anxious now to know who thebeneficiary to the funds is because they have made a lot of profits with thefunds. It is more than ten years now and most of the politicians are no longerusing our bank to transfer funds overseas. The $30M has been laying waste but Idon't want to retire from the bank without transferring the funds to a foreignaccount to enable me share the proceeds with the receiver. The money will beshared 60% for me and 40% for you. There is no one comingto ask you about the funds because I secured everything. I only want youtoassist me by providing available bank account where the funds can betransferred. You are not to faceany difficulties or legal implications as I amgoing to handle the transfer personally. If you are capable of receiving thefunds, do let me know by replying me immediately to enable me give you detailedinformation on what todo.For me, I have not stolen the money from anyone because the other peoplethat took the whole moneydid not face any problems. This is my chance also tograb my own but you must keep the details of thefunds secret to avoid leakagesas no one in the bank knows about the funds.Please supply me thefollowing:Your current contact address and Telephone Numbers. Whether you willbe able to come down to mycountry to meet me before the commencement of thetransfer.I shall intimate you onwhat to do when I get your confirmation and acceptance.If you are capable ofbeing my trusted associate, do declare your consent to me. Waiting for your urgentresponse. Mr. Denis Brown
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