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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
  • "yahoo/msn lottery" (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")
• 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.
  • claim_payoutoffice07@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: msnonline14@mchsi.com (YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY PROMO)
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:34:37 +0000
Subject: URGENT NOTICE


These are your identification numbers:
Batch number.....................YM 09102XN
Reff number.......................YM35447XN
Winning number...................YM09788

Dear Winner,
This is to inform you that you have won a
prize of(£500,000)FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND GREAT BRITAIN
POUNDS STERLINGS for the month of August. 2007 Lottery
promotion ,which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC
& WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO&MSN MICROSOFT WINDOWS,

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
You are to contact your Claims Agent on or before your
date of Claim, Winners Shall be paid in accordance with
his/her Settlement Centre.Yahoo/Msn Lottery Prize must
be claimed no later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification after the Draw date in which Prize was
won.Any prize not claimed within this period will be
forfeited.

You are requested to contact EVENTS AGENT MANAGER,send
your winning identification numbers to them at this
contact address below.

(CONTACT EVENTS AGENT MANAGER)
NAME:.....................................
AGE:........................................
SEX:........................................
ADDRESS:...............................
EMAIL:....................................
PHONE:...................................
OCCUPATION:.........................
COUNTRY/STATE:.............................
Nationality

You are therefore advised to send the following
information to the EVENTS AGENT to facilitate them
and process the COURIER for your money.

Mr James Mark
Email:claim_payoutoffice07@yahoo.co.uk

=========================================================
===============================================
N.B: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the
winners will result to,disqualification Anybody under
the age of 16 cannot participate in this program.Do Not
Reply To This Office As You Are To Contact The EVENT MANAGER
with Your Informations To Enable Processing Of Winnings.
==========================================

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam