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: "melissa pointer" <melissapointer22@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:41:21 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION



















The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
                                       WINNING NOTIFICATION:
We happily announce to you the draw (#93109) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on sat 30th of july, 2005.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:04-10-12-13-14-22(bonus no.21), which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £55,504(fifty five thousand five hundred and four pounds sterling) in cash credited to fileKTU/9023118308/03.This is from a total cash prize of £1,609,616,shared amongst the  (29) lucky winners in this
category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from  World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that arelisted online. This promotion takes place weekly. 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 £55,504(fifty five thousand five hundred and
four pounds sterling) would be released to you by any of our payment offices 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 informationconfidential 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. Please be warned.
To file for your claim,
please contact our fiduciary
agent:Mr Green Derek
Email:info_lotto23@sify.com
Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Melissa Pointer.
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program

Anti-fraud resources: