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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million us dollars" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Pamela Joseph" <marydalton724@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrgabrel91@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2021 17:50:23 +0100
Subject: Attention Dear beneficiary
Attn:
Your fund's has been dully remitted into an ATM CARD since the Bank
have decided to Credit your funds into ATM CARD and it
has been registered with us the FedEx Service Company as a package
that contained Gold and jewelries. But now what you are going to
receive is an ATM CARD credited with the sum of 9.8 million US
Dollars, because the company have converted the gold and jewelries and
it cost the total amount of 9.8 million US Dollars which we credited
into an ATM CARD to be mailed to you. So please
kindly get back to me with your delivery details
1. Your full name
2 Your current cell phone Number
3. Your City: ......
4. Your: Country:......,
5 Your Occupation:......
6 Your ID Card..........
SINCERELY
MRS. Pamela Joseph
FedEx : Delivery Agent
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Anti-fraud resources: