Internet Fraud

I received an odd e-mail offering hugh somes of money for doing nothing...so I did some research and it comes up a "419 scam e-mail. I dumped it..but wonder what this is all about. Anybody been screwed by replying or have any knowlege of what these are?

419 eater is a funny website I don't know anyone who has been duped. Those e-mails are really common and has many variations on it. It is about information collecting and turning that into fraudulent account to steal money, ruining people's credit.

The best resource on all things 419-scam is 419eater.com www.419eater.com

"419" is the criminal code for this scam in Nigeria, which is where many of them originate. They basically are an old con game where the con artist dupes the sucker into believing that they will receive a large sum of money - but first they have to give a little amount of money to "help them out".

419 refers to the Nigerian scam...

Advance fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. Currently the most visible form of the fraud is the Nigerian Letter or 419 fraud named after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that it violates. Originally sent by fax machine the Nigerian Letter is now sent almost exclusively by email. The typical Nigerian letter claims to come from a person needing to transfer large sums of money ($20-$35 million) out of the country. As the Nigerian letter variation of the fraud has become well known, the gangs operating the scams have developed numerous variations. The target is often told that they are the beneficiary of an inheritance or invited to impersonate a beneficiary of a large unclaimed estate. In the variation of the fraud known as The Spanish Prisoner the target is told that a wealthy individual is being held hostage and will reward those who help transfer of the ransom money. Another common gambit is a fake lottery in which the target is told that they have 'won' a large prize but must pay an administrative fee before they receive it. In a recent development of the scheme, the perpetrators use a counterfeit cashiers check to buy an expensive item such as a car or boat from people advertising goods in online classifieds. The target is then asked to forward part of the money to pay for shipping as soon as the check clears. Because banks in the USA are required by law to honor a check within 1-5 working days (even before a check has cleared)[1], they will report the proceeds as available for withdrawal before the check is presented to the issuing bank for clearance and the fraud is discovered.

http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/

There have actually been people killed who got duped into these schemes. Use a dummy email address to send them your "details", including a contact phone number for one of those numbers that look legitimate but actualy run up $50 a minute phone charges.

visit the following web sites to know more about fraud lottery and other scams http://www.joewein.de/sw/419-phone-za.htm#phone-za , http://www.internet-fraud.com/fraudforum/DCForumID37/87.html#1, http://www.quatloos.com/Tax-Forums/viewforum.php?f=15&sid=3029b815a03b971d1c64213bd8cb3901, http://www.fraudwatchers.org/modules.php?name=Jig

Have a look at "419 Eater" on the internet. This site will show you the type of scams that go on. The one you mention is typical. When I advertised a car for sale on the net I received lots of replies. Scammers offering to pay a price well above my asking price and payment by certified cheque. You receive the cheque which appears to clear in your bank account so you send a cash transfer back to the scammer for the balance. The thing is that after a couple of weeks the cheque is rejected by the issuing bank and the money removed from your account. "419 Eater" is great. Shows you how the scammers are being scammed !!!

419 e-mail scams refer to Section 419 of Nigerian criminal law related to cheating and fraud as most of such scams are practiced by Nigerian based persons. Such cheats bank upon the greeds of weak people. If you are trapped these people will tell you that the money is ready (Generally in millions) for you and on payment of a few US$ as processing charges/bank charges etc. all will be yours. salam.

If you do not check a company before entering into a transaction, you could lose your money, time and credibility. Some widely used resources are the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) and the national fraud center ( www.fraud.org) These days, you can easily find out more about a company using the internet in a few minutes. From a company's website, you can details about its ownership, how old the company really is and feedback from the company's customers. You can find more detailed information about a company at http://tinyurl.com/gtb89