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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: "Mr. James Lee" <fundsdelivery000@gmail.com>
Reply-To: woodforestbankusa00@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2022 17:35:52 +0100
Subject: Urgent Directives!!
Attn:
This is to notify you that your fund are currently being lodged into
wood forest bank in USA because we held meeting today with the
(FBI)which they totally gives beneficiaries like you the opportunity
to transfer fund via telephone banking to be able to escape IMF
against transfer of fund above 1.3 million us dollars .
This new payment arrangement is designed to help you get access to
global telephone banking and complete transfer of fund without any
delay.Reconfirm your full name,address,occupation,your mobile phone
and your ID , this is to make sure you are the right person
Thank you for banking with us
Mr. James Lewis
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Anti-fraud resources: