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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims director" (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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447031924017 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • contactmichealsmith@yahoo.dk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo!" <jenni@reedtribe.org>
Reply-To: mail@aaron.vossnet.co.uk
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 15:33:21 -0800
Subject: Yahoo New Year Lottery Winner!

YAHOO NEW -YEAR BONANZA
(Thanks for contributing to our 2006 Financial Success)

CONGRATULATIONS!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER
INTERNATIONAL GRANTS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
REF:YAHOO6/315116127/27
BATCH:15/623/2007-UK.


CONGRATULATIONS!!! NEW YEAR GREETINGS!

We happily announce to you the draw (#1) of the Yahoo! New Year Lottery
Progammes held on the 1st of january 2007, Your e-mail address attached
to ticket number 883734657492-5319 with serial number 7263-267, batch number
8254297137 lottery ref number 7336065782 and drew lucky numbers 14-22-28-37-40-44
which consequently won in the 1st category, You have therefore been approved
to claim a total sum of (£152,900.00) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03
in a total sum of £2,140,600.00 lotto jackpot shared amongst the first
Forteen (14) lucky winners in the First category i.e. Match 5 plus! Bonus
with percentage 16.9%.


Please note that this Promotional Programmes tagged "Thanks for contributing
to our 2006 financial Sucess" was sponsored and organized by the Yahoo!
Corporation in view of the Financial benefits YAHOO have recieved from its
numerous customers either through adverts, hosting and personal emails last
year.

The reason this lottery was organized is to thank the numerous public including
users and non-users of YAHOO MAIL for the financial benefits THE YAHOO CORPORATION
have recieved as a result of their making use of our services last year.It
was also organized to wish our numerous users a prosperous year 2007.

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses
from an exclusive list of 29,031 e-mail addresses of individuals and corporate
bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet.
However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different
ticket numbers for representation and privacy.

The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized
email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses
providers drawn from all the continents of the world.

This Lottery is approved and licensed by the International Association
of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) and The Yahoo! Corporation Japan.This lottery
is the first of its kind organised by YAHOO! In view of this, your Five
hundred Thousand United Kingdom Pounds (£500,000.00) would be released to
you by any of our Yahoo Offices

Our claims director will immediately commence the process to facilitate
the release of your funds as soon as you contact him or her. 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. Please be
warned.

To file for your claims, please contact our claims director:

MR.MICHEAL SMITH
CLAIMS AGENT/DIRECTOR YAHOO MAIL UNITED KINGDOM
44 Moorfields London EC2Y 9AL UNITED KINGDOM
Tel:(+44) 7031924017 (+44) 7031921214
E-mail:contactmichealsmith@yahoo.dk

For processing and remmitance of your winnings, you are required to contact
our designated claims agent with the following underlisted informations:

FULL NAMES........................................................................................
CONTACT ADDRESS..............................................................................
COUNTRY..............................................................................
SEX......................................................................................
AGE.......................................................................................
MARITAL STATUS.................................................................................
OCCUPATION...........................................................................
TELEPHONE NUMBER................................................................
E-MAIL ADDRESS....................................................................
NATIONALITY..........................................................................
TICKET NUMBER......................................................................
SERIAL NUMBER......................................................................
BATCH NUMBER.......................................................................
REFERENCE NUMBER................................................................


Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please
remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers all correspondence.
Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform your claims
director. Congratulations once again, from all members of staff and thank
you for make our 2006 very prosperous.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Your Sincerely,
Mrs. Amelia Hunts
Online Promotions Manager
Uk Administrative Unit

To all our loyal Customers who have helped Yahoo! to become the Internet's
most active website , we wish you a happy, prosperous, and lucky 2007!

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam