|
|
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:
- ",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)
- "deadline" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- 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: Result Notification <saidsalem03@gmail.com>
Reply-To: claimdept@fastservice.com
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2018 20:20:00 +0200
Subject: Final notification on your lottery payment!
Attention E-mail User!
This is the BRITISH CAMELOT ONLINE LOTTERY in conjunction with the (UK
- Euro Millions Maker). We are sending you this email again as a final
reminder as your winning money with the UK-Electronic Email-Lottery
will soon be cancelled. This announcement was first sent to your email
address on the 22/02/2018 right after your e-mail address was selected
among other email-addresses from different websites that were rolled
for Euro Millions-Jackpot-Draw on the 21/02/2018, the computer email
ballot have selected your email address as a winner of £1,000,000.00
in standard P7/1 with winning number TEAL75012587 through our online
machinery e-mail draw, contact us immediately for your payment as your
claim deadline date is fast approaching.
Kindly open attached Winning Notification Letter to read full
directions on how to claim your prize or reply for more information.
If you have received this message in your spam or junk folder, please
move it to your inbox to keep your communication with us more active
as we are currently experiencing network delays in information
dissemination.
Faithfully,
Dr Mrs. Rian Milito
Chief Operating Officer
@UK-Lottery-2018
Signed by:
Management.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
