joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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.

 

 

Please note about this email:

Fraud email example:

From: "paul smith" <primelottooffice@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Jul 2005 21:25:35 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

[UK National Lottery Logo] 
PRIME INTERNATIONAL PROMO
SWEEPSTAKES PROMOTION
UK LONDON.
JUNE 2005
                                                              Ref:UK/9420X2/68
                                                               Batch:074/05/ZY369
Attention,
Winning Notification
We happily announce to you the draw of the UK-LOTTO Sweep stake Lottery
International programs held in the UK. Your  e-mail address attached to
SERIAL NUMBER 56475600545 188 with drew the lucky  numbers:19-6-26-17-35-7, which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2ND category.You have  therefore been  approved to claim a total sum of $12,500,000.00 (Twelve  million,Five Hundred Thousand
United States  Dollars) in cash credited to file  ktu/9023118308/03.
This is from a total cash prize of US $ 120.5   Million dollars, shared
amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this  category. All
participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through
computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000  companies.
       Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our
European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your
play  coupon.In  view of this, your US$12,500,000.00 (Twelve
million,Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) would be released to you by our
payment office in  Europe. Our European agent will immediately commence
the  process to facilitate  the release of your funds as soon as you
contact   him.  For security reasons, you are advised to  keep your
winning  inform ation  confidential till your claims is processed and
your money remitted to you in   whatever manner you deem fit to claim your
prize.
  This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming
and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements.
Please be warned. To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary
agent  the legal department email below:
Barrister Smith Cole
Email:
barrsmithcole@yahoo.com
   To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your
full names, your country, your private Telephone and fax number, your
reference/batch numbers etc in any correspondences with us or our
designated agent. Congratulations once more from all members and staffs
of this program.
Thanks for your co operation
Sincerely,
PAUL SMITH.
UK-LOTTO Co-ordinator
--

Anti-fraud resources: