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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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:
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "Euro million" <anthonyg6680@sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: <speuroinfosp1@aol.es>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:16:08 +0200
Subject: Euro Million
Dear E-mail User,
Your email has just won the sum of Euros (€600,000.00) in cash credited to a file in the just concluded SPANISH LOTERIA PRIMITIVA Lottery International Award Programme held 15th march,2010
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Your e-mail address attached to:
Winner Pin No:5388/10.
Secret No: 089188/10
Winning Date: 13th Sept, 2010
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Kindly provide us with the below information to reconfirm your details in our database and for our prompt payment procedures.;
1. Full names
2. House address(country inclusive)
3. Phone number(office and home)
4. Name of bank
5. Name of compay(if any)
6,Your email address
7. Have you won a lottery before? (YES/NO)
8. Amount Won?
9. Age
CONTACT YOUR AGENT
Fiduciary Agent: Hugo Frank
Tel:
Email:
Upon your response, we will decide on the best way to send you the money.
Online Co-Ordinator
Mr.john williams
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Anti-fraud resources:
