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)
  • "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:
  
  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: "Microsoft Award 2008" <microsoft@hamdard.net.pk>
Reply-To: kenbullock@live.com
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:23:50 +0500
Subject: Microsoft Winner



We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of winners
of the MICROSOFT WORD E-MAIL MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY PROGRAMS held on
12th June 2008. Your company or your personal e-mail address is
attached to winning number 12-6june-2008-02 MSW, with serial
number S/N-00179 drew the lucky numbers 887-13-865-37-10-83, and
consequently won in the first lottery category. You have therefore
been approved for a lump sum pay of GBP 1,000,000.00POUNDS credited to
file REF NO: MSW-L/200-334841 This is from total prize money of GBP
7,000,000.00 POUNDS, shared among the SEVEN (7) international winners
in this category. Your assigned claims officer
contact email is:

Mr.Joe Harrison
Microsoft Promotion Award Team
Head Winning Claims Dept
E-mail Address: kenbullock@live.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam