joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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:

Fraud email example:

From: "2010 UK LOTTERY - Debra Atkinson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <maillotharm@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 23:02:15 +0300
Subject: Re: Congratulations! Reference Number UK2010PR55.

Congratulations from 2010 UK Lottery Awards.


Your email ID was selected from millions of E-mail addresses on the web. Your e-mail address drew as 5th winner in the computer generated draw of the award held in the UK.

You have been awarded a winning cheque of GBP 1,000,000 (One Million British Pound Sterling only) for qualifying as 5th winner of the draw.

Your File Reference Number is: UK2010PR55

Please quote your reference number in all your correspondences.

To redeem your award, send only your full names, telephone number & residence address for validation.

Contact your assigned agent - Mr. Lothar Marsden for additional information:

E-mail: lotharm@maktoob.com
Telephone: +44 702 402 2811


Award will promptly be delivered to shipping address provided.


You MUST be 18 years old or older to be eligible.



Congratulations.


Faithfully,



Debra Atkinson [Phd]





©2010 UK Lottery Awards

Anti-fraud resources: