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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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)
- 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!
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- claimsdepartment1011@hotmail.co.uk (Hotmail, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Tom Brown" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claimsdepartment102@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:56:32 +0100
Subject: urgent reply needed
We happily announce to you the draw (#1052)
of the Coca Cola online Sweepstakes International program held on
the 1st of june,2011. You have therefore been approved to claim a
total sum of (?1,000,000.00){One Million Great British Pounds sterling).
For security reasons,you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you.
This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.
Contact your agent with the following
Name........
Address......
Mobile.......
Occupation.....
Country.....
Age.......
Sex.......
Mr. Tom Brown.
Claims agent.
Email:claimsdepartment1011@hotmail.co.uk
Coca Cola online Promotion Board.
Goodluck from me and members of staff of the Coca Cola online Promotion Board
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Anti-fraud resources:
