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.
• 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.
  • jessicaanderson21@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: volkswagen promotions <volkswagenpromo2006@volkswagen02.orangehome.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 02:23:01 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Congratulation


Volkswagen Automobile Company
Our Ref:VKS/776090X2/23
Batch: 013/05/8394369
Dear Winner,
We happily announce to you of this year annual Volkswagen Automobile Company Lottery award held on 8 October 2006, your e-mail address attached a pin Number 8603775966738 with Reference Number 536802, which
subsequently won the lottery.
You are therefore been approved to claim total sum of 1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) in cash credited to file. This is from a total cash prize of 200,000,000.00, shared amongst 200 winners, All winning emails 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 annually.
Your pin number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe . In view of this, your 1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) will be released to you by our payment office in United Kingdom, 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 information confidential till your claim is processed and your winning prize remitted to you.
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, fill the winner verification form below and forward to me immediately via email.

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM

1.FULL NAMES:__________________________________
2.ADDRESS:_____________________________________________
3.SEX:_______________
4.AGE:________
5.MARITAL STATUS:___________________
6.OCCUPATION:___________________
7.E-MAIL ADDRESS:_____________________________
8.TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________
9.PIN NUMBER:___________________
10.REF NUMBER:__________________
11.AMOUNT WON:___________________________________
12. STATE:__________________________________
13. COUNTRY________________________________
Mrs. Jessica Anderson
Email: jessicaanderson21@hotmail.com

Congratulations from me and members of staff of Volkswagen Automobile Company.

Cordially,
Mrs. Jessica Anderson.
Online Co-ordinator.
Volkswagen Automobile Company.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam