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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "SPANISH LOTTERY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info_bnk.de.es@mcom.com>
Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 07:11:12 -0400
Subject: Lottery Winner/2011
The desk of promotion director
Spanish lottery international
Attn: Stake Winner.
We wish to inform you that your email address has won Spanish Sweepstake Lottery/International Promotion Program held on April, 2011. Your email address attached to ticket number 002-77-897-045-112 drew the lucky numbers 09-13-17-29-33-41 consequently won the lottery in the 3rd category.
Therefore a lump Sum of 815,950.00 (Eight hundred and fifteen thousand, nine hundred and fifty euro only) has been allocated to you.
Note the allocation Ref number EG/0084/5170024.
Batch Number: 100000488
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 25,000 email addresses from Europe and America as part of our international promotion program that we conduct twice every year. We hope with a part of your prize, you will take part in our next high stake USD 1.3 billion international lottery.
Contact your agent:
Name: ANTONIO LUCAS
Email:info_bnk.de.es@mcom.com
Tel: +34 634 063 144
Ensure your supply the following information to your claim agent.
Surname:
Middle Name:
First Name:
Occupation:
Postal Address:
Telephone:
Email:
Mrs Miguel Riuz
Director.
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Anti-fraud resources:
