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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"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.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- 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 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.
- overseasunit@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Lottomatica S.p.A" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <overseasunit@aim.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:06:27 +0200
Subject: LOTTOMATICA
Dear winner,
Our records indicate that you have qualified as one of the lucky winners to receive the LOTTOMATICA International winning prize jackpot.
WINNING DETAILS
Draw#: 107
Batch#: XX08778XX
Reference#: 77ES/411/-00788709ES
Credited to File: LTO/001355011
Results were released on the 8th June 2009 in Madrid. Your E-mail Address attached, won you a sum of €1.000.000.00 (One Million Euro).
The fastest and easiest way to receive your prize award is to confirm your winning as soon as possible. Please do so by contacting our Claims Agency
Madrid- Spain within 7days from the date of the receipt of this notification
OVERSEASCLAIMSUNIT
Sun Royal security Company
Contact Person: Mr. Richard Taylor
Email:overseasunit@aim.com
phone: +34605547459
Remember to quote your -WINNING DETAILS
Congratulations,
Maripau Callejon
Lottomatica S.p.A
Media Communication, Annexe, Madrid – Spain
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Anti-fraud resources:
