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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "euro afro american lottery promotion"
  • "south african 2010 world cup hosting lottery"
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "million united states dollars" (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:
  
  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.
  • rsa_2010@fastermail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mpoyo Thomas" <mpoyo_th@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 03:15:58 -0800
Subject: Lotto Winning Notification

Euro Afro American Lottery Promotion Switzerland.

>From the desk of: Mr. Thomas Mpoyo

Dear Sir/Madam,

Lotto Winning Notifications

We happily announce to you the draw of South African 2010 World Cup Hosting
Lottery Award International Programs held in Zurich, Switzerland on the 6th
of March 2006.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: B9665 75604546 199 with
Serial number 97560 drew the winning numbers 04, 13, 24, 38, 43, 47 that
subsequently won you the lottery award in Category A.

Your email address have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars) in cash credited to file
KPC/9030108308/03/06

This is from a total cash prize of US$10,000,000.00 (Ten Million United
States Dollars) budgeted to be shared amongst the first ten lucky winners in
this category worldwide. Please note that your lucky winning numbers fall
within our lottery booklet representative office in South Africa as indicate
in the play coupon.

In view of this, your US$1,000.000.00 (One Million United States Dollars)
would be released to you through the assistance of our agent in South Africa
immediately you contact him. Note that all participants were selected
randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer ballot draw systems.

The Lottery Program was conducted to promote South Africa's 2010 World Cup
Soccer Hosting. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning
information confidential till your claims has been processed and your money
remitted to you in whatever manner you deemed 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 you are advised to file for your claim immediately through our agent:

Mr. Steve Kondo
Email : rsa_2010@fastermail.com

It is pertinent to let you know that you stand a risk of losing the prize if
you fail to claim your winning money within a month from the day you
received this notification.

You can confirm the authenticity of this draw from the authorized
Security/Finance Company’s website: www.crest-security.com. The information
is posted under: South Africa 2010 World Cup Hosting Lottery Results.

Once again, congratulations!.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Thomas Mpoyo

_________________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee®
Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963


--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam