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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: "Dr William Mike" <monaco@wedoo.es>
Reply-To: willzzmk01@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2016 15:15:37 +0100
Subject: Your fund transfer
This mail is being sent to you because we have come to understand that you
have lost a lot of money all because you want to receive your fund,
well note that all that has been put to a stop as the federal government
of Nigeria has promised to assist you with the sum of $5million in other
to
compensate you for your past lost and all you have to do is fill the below
informations and you are to pay $150 for the release of your fund.
1 full name
2 home phone and cell phone number
3 occupation
4 amount that was lost by you
Send this and get back at once.
Warm regards
Dr William mike
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Anti-fraud resources: