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:
  • "20 craven park, harlesden" (address often used in lottery scams)
  • "yahoo lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "to your nominated bank account" (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.
  • mslclaimagent@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: kylepenn1@mchsi.com (The Microsoft Group)
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:29:47 +0000
Subject: Prize Award Notification

Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park, Harlesden
London NW10,United Kingdom.
Ref: BTD/968/07
Batch: 409978E

Microsoft Award Team

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of FIVE HUNDRED
THOUSAND POUNDS (£500,000) for the month of April 2007 Lottery promotion
which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.

YAHOO & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the people that
are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail we
only select five people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting
System without the winner applying,we congratulate you for being one of the
people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact your Claims Agent with immediate effect to faciliate
the protocol of your winning prized before the date of Claim, Winners
Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre Prize must
be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification after
the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not claimed within this
period will be forfeited.These are your identification numbers:

Batch number...................12/25/0340
Reff number.......................MSN-L/200-26937
Winning number...................YM09788

To begin your claim please contact our licensed and accredited agent
assigned
to you

Mr.Terri Martins.
1290 LONDON Representative Office.
E-mail:mslclaimagent@yahoo.co.uk

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claims agent
to facilitate them and in order for them to have access in proceeding with the
tranaferred of your funds to your nominated bank account.

1. Full name............
2. Country..............
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
7. Age....................

Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not claimed
within this period will be forfeited.

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
Mrs.Peggy Heinz.
(Operation Manager)

--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam