joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
  
  1. They don't notify winners by email.
  2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
  3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
  4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
  5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
  6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
  7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447011137675 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Steven Cole <uk_consult012@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007 03:27:15 -0600
Subject: CONFIRMATION OF WINNING NOTIFICATION OF FREELOTTO JACKPOT



Attn:Hedy Kirsh,

I am in receipt of your which stated that your want to confirm the authentication of the confidential winning notification letter sent to you.I am your claims officer and i will be guiding you on how you will redeem your winning prize.

You are to funished me with the requested informations below:

1.Name:2.Address:3.Marital Status:4.Occupation:5.Age:6.Sex:7.Nationality:8.Country Of Residence:9.Telephone Number:10.Fax Number:11.Email Address:12.Your Lucky Numbers:13.Reference Number above;

As soon as that is provided i will be giving you other directive on what to do next to make sure you get your winning prize.Be aware that FREELOTTO LOTTERY does not collect any money from any of our winners but our payment bank might ask for transfer fees before they can transfer your winning prize to your nominated account in your country.Why,because their are not allow by law to deduct from the wiining prize before it get to the winners.

Be aware that you do have a stipulated time to claim your winning,otherwise it will be reverted back to the next edition of the draw.

I wish you good luck and congratulation on behalf of all of us.

Steven Cole,
Claims officer
PHONE: +44 701 113 7675.



_________________________________________________________________
Make every IM count. Download Windows Live Messenger and join the i’m Initiative now. It’s free.  
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGWL_June07

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam