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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.
- 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: "A.M.A SEGUROS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ama-seguros@in.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 17:56:02 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATION WINNER
Congratulations !!!
We are very please to inform you that your name appear on the facebook
postcode promotion for the Year 2011 held here in Madrid Spain and we
are giving out the total sum of €700,000 euros (Seven hundred Thousand
euros ) which is what you have just won.
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRC:
You are among the selected people in a raffle draw that was made this May
2011 so we need your fast response so that we can proceed with the
delivery of
your fund Your name was selected by Mr Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Facebook
(Founder & Chief Executive Officer ) The promotion was made
to make all face book user benefit from the gain the company made,
facebook is the first and ever largest means of meeting both old and
new friend.
This promo was held to serve as a means of appreciation to visitors on our
site and also to help people to fight off poverty and to maintain
the standard of living.
You are advised to contact the payment officer and the delivery department
of your Funds, with your full name, address and email
address through the email below so that they can proceed to deliver your
money to you.
Person to Contact: Mr. James Nello
Email: ama-seguros@in.com
Company: A.M.A SEGUROS
Tel: :+34-603-276-748
KINDLY FILL THE CLAIMS VERIFICATION/PROCESSING FORM BELOW SEND TO HIM:
FULL NAMES OF BENEFICIARY:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
SEX:
AGE:
MARITAL STATUS:
MOBILE NO:
FAX:-----
OCCUPATION:----
Contact the above details for the claim of your winning which will be
paid to you via a BANK to you .
Congratulations !!!
Thank you.
Mrs. Cathy Saber
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Anti-fraud resources:
