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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",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: "martins johnson" <martinsjohnson@klikni.cz>
Reply-To: microsoftmegajackpot2008@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 13:41:54 +0100
Subject: FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT 2008


FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT 2008
REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L
BATCH: 4583JL/WIN

MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM Finally today,we
announce the winners of the MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS PROGRAMS
held early this month 2008. Your company or your personale-mail address,
attached to winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100, With serial number 647489,
consequently won in the Tenth lottery category.

You have been approved for lump sums pay out of ?850,000.00 (Eight hundred
and fifty thousand pounds sterlings) in cash Credited to file REF NO:
MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100.Selection process was
carried out through random selection in our computerized
email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 1,000,000 email
addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from
an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate
bodies picked by an advanced automated random computersearch from the
internet. No ticket were sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.

This is to encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users all
over the world, and for the Continues use of E-mail.Your fund has been
insured with your REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number
23-76-06-54-42-100. To claim your winning prize, You are to reply to this
letter In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and winning numbers in all correspondences
with your claims officer. You are to keep all lotto information away from
the general public especially your ticket number and ballot number.(This is
important as a case of double claims will not be entertained)

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM
YOUR WINNING PRIZE:


1. Full Name:
2. Address:
3. Nationality:
4. Age: .......................Date of Birth:
5. Occupation:
6. Your Office Telephone and fax.
7. Moble Telephone
7. State of Origin: ....................Country:

Dr. Martins Johnson
Online Co-ordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam