|
|
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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- 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: Francis Hayes <derek_burke@eircom.net>
Reply-To: "francishayes002@gmail.com" <francishayes002@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 04:08:10 +0100 (IST)
Subject: Dear Esteemed Winner,Esteemed
Reference Number BMW: 6743222009/13
BMW Automobile Company Hours Of Services:
Mondays - Friday hours 8:00 am–5:00 pm
Dear Esteemed Winner,
This is to acknowledge the receipt of your email to this office and I must say that you should count yourself extremely lucky to have emerged as one of our winners in the 1st section of the 2019, BMW LOTTERY PROMO. As you already know your email address was randomly selected along with others from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world. Each email address was attached to a ticket number.Your email address with Reference Number BMW: 6743222009/13. Was selected along with others as winners of a prize of a brand new BMW 5 Series Car and a Certified Check of US$500,000.00. A certificate of prize claims and some vital documents will be sent along side your winnings.
DIAMOND EXPRESS COURIER COMPANY has been
contracted as your shiping agency to send your winnings safely to you as the rightful beneficiary. Contact their delivery Agent with the contact
information below for further instructions on how to have your winnin safely delivered to you at your home address.
Contact him by providing him with your secret Reference Number BMW: 6743222009/13. Also advised to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible:
It is imperative that you add your Reference Number BMW: 6743222009/13. as the subject of any correspondence with the Shipping company to ensure
they respond in a timely manner. I will require a concise update on the proceedings with the firm as soon as you are in contact with them.
Regards,
Mr. Desmond William
Fiduciary Agent
|
Anti-fraud resources:
