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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Barr Green Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sbarrgreen@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:30:53 +0100
Subject: your part-payment contract settlement Ready
Attention Beneficiary,
Did you authorize Mr Lee,who presented document of claim purported to
have been signed by you for the release of your part-payment contract
settlement Ready for shipment to your home ? He is Claiming the fund
while the Beneficiary Still Valid in your Name. Ensure that you do not
delay to get back soonest as this calls for urgent and cogent attention
to avoid misappropriation,misconception and misconstrue in our
beneficiary financial transfer record.
If you did not give any authorization to the said Mr Lee to claim your
fund, please kindly reconfirm immediately to avoid shipment
irregularities.
In summary of what you need to do is to get back with the information
request below.
1) Your full Name:------
2) Residential:--------------
3) Cell-Phone/Mobile:--------------
4) Age and Status:----------------
5) Company/ and Position:------------
6) Occupation:-----------------
7) Copy of valid ID
Wait for your urgent response
Yours faithfully,
Barr G Smith
London UK
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Anti-fraud resources: