419 scam: "Mrs. Teresa Garcias"<shichang@zhuozhan.com> ** Notification of email award**D FORGIVE MEoticentPŒë¸"

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "el gordo " (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "certified bank draft" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
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 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.
- +34672530622 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)
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.
- npcmsbv01@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Teresa Garcias" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <npcmssbv01@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2010 04:37:37 -0800
Subject: ** Notification of email award**

** Notification of email award**

We happily notify you of the draw of the Email Lottery Ballot - World
Gaming Board Sweepstakes program for the month of October, 2010 in El Gordo
de la Primitiva Lottery International Promotions Program. Your email
address attached to our Lottery payment order, had the following
details:(i) Ticket Nr.:18457SP; (ii) Lucky Nrs.:SPX56789; (iii) Reference
Nr.:5687SPL876;(iv) Batch Nr.:SPYU6868; which consequently won you this
lottery in the 1st category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of One Million Two
Hundred Euro only (1,200,000,00 Euros) in Certified Bank Draft issued in
your name, and credited to your File Reference number as quoted above.

A total of 500,000 email addresses were entered for the Email Lottery
Ballot - World Gaming Board Sweepstakes International. All email addresses
entered for the game were submitted by our partners; International email
service providers from over 140 countries that are listed, online and were
thereafter randomly selected systematically through our Electronic Random
Selection System (ERSS).

The payment authority of your prize - One Million Two Hundred Euro only,
in Certified Bank Draft issued in your name- is already deposited and
insured in your name with our Paying Bank pending your claim and will be
issued to effect immediate payment/swift transfer in the mode you will
prefer and nominate, upon satisfactory report on your identity
verification and validation recommendation by our Claims Department - El
Gordo de la Primitiva Lottery International Promotions Program. Due to the
mix up of certain names, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential until your claim has been processed and your money paid to
you.

All winnings must be claimed as soon as possible. To file for your claim,
please contact our Claims Department: while quoting: (i). Your full
name(s) and Nationality;(ii). Reference Number and (iii). Batch Number.
DR. Gerald Erichsen.
TEL: +34-672-530-622.
Email:npcmsbv01@aol.com

Faithfully yours,
Mrs. Teresa Garcias.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam