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:
  • "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • ",000,000" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: DAVID THORBURN <mrdavidthorb2k5@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:37:46 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: YOU HAVE WON THE YAHOO/MSN INC AND THE MICROSOFT WINDOWS LOT TERY OF £3,000,000.00












Yahoo/Msn Lotter
Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te
United Kingdom.



This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of THREE MILLION reat Britain Pound Sterlings(£3,000,000.00}for the month of AUGUST 2007 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.

YAHOO/MSN & 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.



You are to contact the events manager 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 20 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.....................YM 09102XN
Reff number.......................YM35447XN
Winning number...................YM09788


These numbers fall within your Location file, you are requested to contact the events manager, send your winning identification numbers to him,to enable him verify your claims.How ever you will have to fill and submit this form to the events manager for verification & direction on how you can claim your winning fund.

1. Full name..............
2. Contact Address........
3. Age....................
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Sex....................
7. Next Of Kin............
8. Zip Code...............
9. Occupation.............
10.Company................

11.State:.................
12.Country................
13.Nationality............
14. Your Reference and Batch number at the top of this mail:


(CONTACT EVENTS MANAGER)

Thank you and Accept my hearty congratulations once again!


Yours faithfully, Mr.David Thorburn
(Yahoo/Msn Lottery Games/Lottery Coordinator).













---------------------------------
Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows.
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam