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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned 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.
  • mr.oceanmat@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Umez Wright" <ahooly0036@msn.com>
Reply-To: <umezwr@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:18:34 +0000
Subject: ATTN: APPLICATION FOR YOUR LOTTERY PRIZE CLAIM!!



You won $910,000.00! Yahoo! Mail $ Windows live congratulates you! Yahoo! Mail & Windows Live gives members random cash prizes. However no previous notification is given before your email address was picked for this lottery. Generally email address are picked, the draws are processed by the computer through a special program that is special designed for this lottery, the program is known as Random Access Program (RAP) This software picks email addresses from the internet and through a random process, picks the winners through their email address. Today, your account is randomly selected as the one of 12 top winners accounts who will get cash prizes from us. We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money of (Nine Hundred And Ten Thousand US Dollars) ($910,000.00) for the month of January 2009 Lottery win promotion which is organized by yahoo Mail & windows live . This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomorate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the commmunities where they have operational base. To begin your claims, kindly contact the Fiduciary Agent Mr. Ocean Mat of YAHOO/WINDOWS LIVE LOTTERY BOARD ABIDJAN-COTE d'IVOIRE on email address: mr.oceanmat@yahoo.com You are required to forward them with the following details: 1.FULL NAME: 2.COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 3.PRESENT ADDRESS: 4.SEX: 5.DATE OF BIRTH: 6.AGE: 7.OCCUPATION: 8.TELEPHONE NUMBERS/CELL: 9.FAX NUMBER(IF ANY): 10.MARITAL STATUS: 11.WINNING NUMBER: Lwh0944712.BATCH NUMBER: Lwh09445 13.LOTTO NUMBER: Lwh0944612 SERIAL NUMBER: Lwh00948213 AMOUNT WON: $910,000.00 As soon as you contact the agent, he will advise you on what to do in order to get your prize money. Congratulations once more!! For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant or unofficial personnel. Yours Truly Dr. Umez Wright.(PHD) LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR. The Yahoo.com staff http://www.yahoo.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam