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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:
- "million us 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "First Hope Consultancy" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <first.hope90@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 18:43:00 +0100
Subject: Let us know
Hello,
I may not know how to put it to you as you might think this is one of the scams going on in the internet.
We want to know if there is any probable investment outlet in your country we can invest the sum of twenty million US dollars unbehalf of one of our clients who is a former Minister in the previous administration in Nigeria.
He want us to front for him in the investment. Let us know if you can invest the money.
As a third party agent, you have nothing to fear as our office is the indrect investor. Our client name will not appear in any agreement we will enter into with you nor will the money be traceable to him as a primary source.
Waiting for your reply so that we can start the negotiations.
Philip Hope
CEO
First Hope Consultancy Inc.
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L'absence de virus dans ce courrier électronique a été vérifiée par le logiciel antivirus Avast.
http://www.avast.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
