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:
  • "fondazione di vittorio" (not involved with lotteries)
  • "vittorio foundation" (not involved with lotteries)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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)
  • "00,000.00" (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)
  • "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • ecowas_claimsoffice02@yahoo.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "FONDAZIONE DI VITTORIO, ECOWAS" <ecowas_claimsoffice02@yahoo.it>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:33:34 -1200
Subject:

Fondazione Di Vittorio ECOWAS
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it
BATCH NO: (N-222-6747,E-900-56)

Congratulations as we bring to your notice! The Fondazione
di Vittorio ECOWAS, has chosen you by the board of trustees
as one of the final recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for
your own personal, educational, and business development. To
celebrate the 30th anniversary program. We are giving out a
yearly donation of USD$500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars) to 40 lucky recipients, as charity
donations/aid from the Vittorio Foundation, ECOWAS, EU and
the UNO. In accordance with the enabling act of Parliament,
which is part of our promotion to file for your claim. you
are to fill out below information and send it to the Payment
Remittance Officer Via email contact below;

Full Name:
Occupation:
Country:
Sex:
Age:
Telephone:
Next of Kin:
Fax Number:
Residential Address:
Winning Batch No:

After the form understated been fill, you are to forward it
to the payment remitance office below the contact
information so as to speed up the processing of your claim
as soon as possible.

(Payment Remitance Contact)
Mr John Slaughter
E-Mail: ecowas_claimsoffice02@yahoo.it

Also in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications,
remember to quote your batch numbers and the following
details; in all your correspondence message.

Sincerely Yours,
Mr. Carlo Ghezzi
(Foundation President)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam