|
|
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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Juliana Pedersen <ju_pcs74@163.com>
Reply-To: Juliana Pedersen <ju_pcss74@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2015 00:23:35 +0900 (JST)
Subject: From Mrs Juliana
My Greetings,
I'm Mrs Juliana Pedersen. Am a widow suffering from Cancer of the lungs. I'm married to late Dr Michael Pedersen who worked with Kuwait embassy here in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of ($6.3million) at the Bank here in Abidjan, which he disclosed to me before his death at the hospital.
Am currently admitted in a hospital here in Abidjan cote d'Ivoire, and I need a honest and God fearing person who have the feelings of human that can use this funds for God's work and for Orphanage, 35% out of the fund will be for your compansaction.
Please if you would be able to use these funds for the Lord's work kindly reply to me.
Any delay in your responds will give me room in searching another hand for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated above.
Your Sister In The Lord.
Mrs Juliana Pedersen
|
Anti-fraud resources:
