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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "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)
- "claims@ozu.es" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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: "DOMINIC DOMINGUEZ" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claims@ozu.es>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:11:54 +0100
Subject: YOUR LUCK
WEBEX INCORPORATION INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM PRIZE
Date 27/10/2009
Ref No.: 475061725
We are delighted to inform you that you won a prize in the lottery released on the 9th of October 2009.
With eight other lucky winners, You have been approved the payment of €1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION EUROS) in this category selected through an online balloting system drawn from a number of E-mail addresses from around the world as part of our international promotions programme conducted annually.
This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies in the European Union area as part of their social responsibilities to the citizens in the communities where they have operational bases. Please claim your winning before the 24th of November, 2009.
Contact
Alberto Rodriguez
C/ Reina 104, 28013 MADRID , SPAIN
claims@ozu.es
Phone/Fax +34634067805
THANKS:
MANAGEMENT
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Anti-fraud resources:
