|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
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.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "foreign remittance manager" (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)
- ",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)
- "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)
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- 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.
- +34693253661 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)
- 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.
- spanishinterlotteria@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: SPANISH NACIONAL ROYAL LOTERIA <spaniardloteria.es@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:50:27 +0100
Subject: Re:International email winners/Spanish sweepstake lotteria!!!
SPANISH SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY
EMAIL ALERT NOTIFICATION
MADRID,SPAIN
DEAR WINNER,
YOUR EMAIL HAS WON THE SUM OF =801,000,000.00(ONE MILLION EUROS) FROM SPANISH =
SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY ONLINE AND GAMING CORPORATION.ALL THE WINNING TICKETS WAS =
SELECTED FROM A DATA BASE OF INTERNET E-MAIL USERS, FROM WHICH YOUR E-MAIL =
ADDRESS CAME OUT AS A WINNING COUPON.
WE THEREBY CONTACT YOU TO CLAIM YOUR WINNING AMOUNT AS QUICKLY,AS THIS IS AN =
ANNUAL LOTTERY PROGRAMME.PLEASE CONTACT OUR APPROVED AGENT FOR YOUR REGION =
WITH YOUR WINNING.
BATCH NUMBER:RSSL/15/096/WRCS
REF:RSSL/61-ILGI0509/45
WORLD ROYAL CONSULTANCY & SEC,.
MR JEFF CARLOS
(FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER)
TEL: +34-693-253-661
E-MAIL:spanishinterlotteria@gmail.com
TO AVOID DOUBLE CLAIMS, YOU ARE TO KEEP YOUR WINNING CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL YOUR =
CLAIMS HAVE BEEN DUELY PROCESSED FOR ONWARD PAYMENT TO YOUR NOMINATED BANK =
ACCOUNT.
YOURS SINCERELY,
WILFRED ENRIQUE
LOTTERY DIRECTOR.
Anti-fraud resources:
