|
|
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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- sarhkingcharityprojects@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "LUKE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sarahkinsar@rediffmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2017 09:23:08 -0500
Subject: God Bless 2017
Dear Friend,My name is Mrs. SARAH KIN I am a dying woman who has decided to
donate what I have to charity through you.You may be wondering why I chose
you. But someone has to be chosen.I am 59 years old and was diagnosed for
cancer about 2 years ago,after the death of my husband who had left me
everything he worked for.I have been touched by the Lord to donate from
what I have inherited from my late husband to charity through you for the
good work of humanity,rather than allow my relatives to use my husband's
hard earned funds inappropriately.I have asked the Lord to forgive me all
my sins and I believe he has,because He is merciful. I will be going in for
an operation,and I pray that I survive the operation. I have decided to
WILL/Donate the sum of (TEN Million five hundred thousand Dollars)to
charity through you for the good work of the Lord,pls contact me through my
private email: sarhkingcharityprojects@gmail.com
Full Names:........................ .............
Residential Address:...................... .......
Phone Number:....................... ...............
Fax Number:....................... ..................
Occupation:................... .......................
Sex:.......................... .........................
Age :............................. .......................
Nationality:.................. .............................
Present Country:......
Sarh kin?
|
Anti-fraud resources:
