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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (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 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.
  • tonyfinley1@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "Edward Cater" <ukltr1@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 17:02:32 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION !!

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 (#942) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online Sweepstakes International program held on 28th of September, 2005.
It is yet to be unclaimed and you are getting the final NOTIFICATION as
regards this.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:4-6-9-12-15-40 (bonus no.25), 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 £3,987,470 (Three
million nine hundred and eighty seven thousand,four hundred and seventy
pounds sterling) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03. This is from a
total cash prize of £15,949,880 shared amongst the(4) 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
are listed 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 £3,987,470 (Three million nine hundred and eighty seven thousand,
four hundred and seventy pounds sterling ) will 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 her. For security reasons, you
are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim 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.

Official e-mail:tonyfinley1@yahoo.co.uk

Endeavour to email him your full names, winning numbers, email address,
telephone and fax numbers immediately.
You can go to our online result site to confirm the value of your winnings
and also get a prize breakdown:-

Congratulations from me and members of staff of THE NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,
Edward Carter
Online coordinator for THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.



--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam