|
|
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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "claims101@qq.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "claims101@qq.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Roy Henshaw" <info@mfl.dk>
Reply-To: <claims101@qq.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2015 14:14:46 +0800
Subject: Microsoft Promotion Award>>
The prestigious Microsoft and AOL has set out and successfully organised a Sweepstakes. We rolled out over 100,000.000.00 (One Hundred Million Great Britain Pound Sterling) for our Anniversary Draws. Participants for this draw were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage. Your email address has subsequently won you 2,000,000.00 GBP (Two Million Great Britain Pound Sterling) as one of the jackpot winner in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of 2,000,000.00 GBP (Two Million Great Britain Pound Sterling).
To file for your claim Please Contact your fiduciary agent with your
Name:
Tel:
Address:
Stated below are the details of your Fiduciary agent.
You are to contact him via email:claims101@qq.com
Mr. Roy Henshaw
Microsoft Promotion Award Team
Head Sweepstakes Organising Committee.
Email:claims101@qq.com
|
Anti-fraud resources:
