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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:
- 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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- +448712637684 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: Stella Ellis (Mrs) <stellaellisuk@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: claims_megafinanceuk@ymail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:40:30 +0100
Subject: Final Notification
International Online British Co-ordinators.
Ref: LSUK/2031/8161/08
Batch: R3/A312-59
TICKET NUMBER:56475600545 188
We happily announce to you the uk lottery draw held on 17th of
April 2010.Your e-mail address was attached to these lucky
winning numbers below: 9 14 24 28 32 41 13 You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of£ 2,631,895.00
{Two Million Six Hundred And Thirty One Thousand,EightHundred
And ninty Five Great Britain pounds sterlings} in cash credited
to file KTU/9023118308/08.Your prize awards has been insured in
your names and ready for claim.
To begin your claims therefore, you are advised on final notice
and as a matter of urgency, to contact our licensed and accredited claim
agent for Overseas Lottery Winners for the processing of your prize awards
winning and payment to your designated bank account after all statutory
obligations have been concluded satisfactorily.
Contact thus: FINANCIAL DIRECTOR
WALTER COLE
MEGAFINANCE & SECURITIES UKLTD
FAX NUMBER: +44871 263 7684
EMAIL ADDRESS: claims_megafinanceuk@ymail.com
Stella Ellis(Mrs)
Zonal Co-ordinator
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Anti-fraud resources:
