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:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Maria Benson" <n_mexicolottery@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:22:13 +0000
Subject: WINNING INFORMATION !!!

New Mexico Lottery Headquarters:
Palais Des Nations,
209 Geneva 10,
Switzerland


WINNING INFORMATION:

The members and sponsors happily announce to you the
draw of the New Mexico Lottery programs held on the
1st of February, 2005 in Melbourne, Australia. Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number: 2247887653
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd
category. All participants were selected randomly from
World Wide Web site through computer draw system and
extracted from over 100,000 individuals and
companies.The Lottery teams up with local companies
and media partners to promote Lottery products, and
informs citizens on where the proceeds from Lottery
ticket sales go.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum
of 1,000,000 EURO(ONE MILLION EURO) in cash. This is
from a total cash prize of FIFTY THREE MILLION
EURO,shared amongst the first hundred (53) lucky
winners in this category.

A statewide focus is taken on most large promotions,
and the Lottery works with local companies, such as
Pepsi and IBM, in "co-promotional" partnerships. These
partnerships help each company introduce new products
to customers.

This promotion takes place annually. For security
reasons, you are advised to keep your winning
information 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.

In view of this, your 1,000,000 EURO(ONE MILLION EURO)
would be released to you by our Security firm. To file
for your claim, please contact our fiduciary/Claims
agent:

Name brain willcox
Email:brainwillcox507@luxmail.com
To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, you are
to contact BRAIN WILLCOX with followings details
below:

1. Your full names,telephone, contact address
2. quote your Ticket number in any correspondences
with us or our designated agent.

Our agent will immediately commence the process to
facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you
contact him.

The Lottery is strongly committed to maintaining the
privacy of personal information that is gathered from
the use of its web site and web services. The
following statement discloses the Lottery's privacy
policy and its information gathering/dissemination
practices.

The Lottery will not release personal information to
third parties except where it is already provided by
law. Depending on the specific nature of the service,
information may be shared with other state agencies as
stated in the Open Records Act. This statute allows
for the exchange of public records or sharing of
information between public agencies when the exchange
is serving a legitimate governmental need or is
necessary in the performance of a legitimate
government function. E-mail addresses or other
information that is obtained as a result of
interacting with the Colorado Lottery web site will be
used for the benefit of the Lottery and will not be
sold to third party companies except as required by
the Open Records Act.

The Lottery will not share personal information with
any private party, except as required by the Open
Records Act.



Sincerely,
maria benson
(Zonal Coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam