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:

• 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.
  • +447031818413 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: mark johnson <lindrice_02@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <claimsunitofficer2000@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:53:26 +0100
Subject: BRITISH INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY



BRITISH INTERNATIONAL LOTTERYP O BOX 1010LIVERPOOL, L70 1NLUNITED KINGDOM FINAL NOTIFICATIONThis Email is to inform you that you emerged a winner of £1.000.000.00pounds on our online draws which was played on the 14Th of Oct, 2007 your winning numbers are;Ref. Number...... .BTL/491OXI/04Batch Number...... 12/25/0304Ticket Number..... 564 75600545-188Serial Number......5388/02For further Information about your Winnings contact; Mark johnsonEmail:claimsunitofficer2000@yahoo.co.ukTell:+447031818413WITH YOUR DETAIL INFORMATION AS FOLLOWS1.FULL NAMES: 2.ADDRESS: 3.SEX:4.AGE:5.MARITAL STATUS: 6.OCCUPATION: 7.E-MAIL ADDRESS:8.TELEPHONE NUMBER:9.REF NUMBERS: 10.TICKET NUMBER: 11.SERIAL NUMBER: 12.AMOUNT WON: 13.CITY:14.STATE: 15.COUNTRY:Sincerely Yours,Mrs. LINDA RICE.International Promotion ManagerBRITISH INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam