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 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.
  • michaelhans2020@spinfinder.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: primelotto <primelottoclaim@yahoo.ca>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:42:49 -0400
Subject: Notification.


FROM: GOVERNMENT ACCREDITA
AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual Final draws of Prime lottery International Canada programs.

The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 40,000 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New Zealand and picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of the Lucky winners in the category "A" with the following:

Serial No: 5368/06
Batch No: 074/05/ZY345
Ref No: Canada/9420X2/70
Winning Ticket Number:56475612545

You as well as the other winner are therefore to receive a cash prize of $2,000.000.00(Two Million Dollars) this is from the total prize money of $80,000,000.00 shared between 40 international winners in the First category. Your prize awards have been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report.
To begin the claims, processing of your prize winnings you are advised to Contact our licensed Fiduciary Agent for Category "A" winners with the information below:

Mr. Michael Hans,
Canada Prime Lottery International,
Email:michaelhans2020@spinfinder.com

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 10 days. After this date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence.

You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your serial and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained).

Anybody under the age of 16 and members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this program.

Thank you and congratulations!!!

Yours faithfully,
Mr. Charles Smith,
Games/Lottery Coordinator.

N.B: ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS.CONTACT YOUR FIDUCIARY AGENT.(TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY)BE INFORMED THAT YOU MUST MAKE ALL CORRESPONDECE WITH YOUR WINNING E-MAIL ADDRESS, NO OTHER E-MAIL ADDRESS WILL BE ENTERTAINED. FROM: GOVERNMENT ACCREDITA
AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam