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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:
- "claims 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "Ms. Catherine Woods" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lizflanni@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:01:29 +0800
Subject: Urgent Notification
Attn: Winner
We are pleased to announce to you the draw of the Online Mega Millions in conjunction with the United Nations Lottery Promo held on the 23rd of August 2011. Your e-mail address attached to the following numbers listed below:
Online Ticket Number: 174664001
Serial Number: 1983/82/3117
Draw Lucky Numbers: 83773-001-1
Your email address through an internet balloting system was selected randomly and attached to the listed numbers above subsequently make you the winner of this promo. Therefore the sum of $850,000.00 USD has been awarded to you as your cash prize.
To file for your claim, please contact your claims agent with the below details for processing of your claims and endeavour to list out your winning numbers when filing your claim.
Name: Mr. Raymond Shaw
Tel: +60 1624 84221
E-mail: raymondshaw@live.co.uk
Your are advised to acknowledge the receipt of your notification by return phone call.
Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program.
Yours Faithfully,
Ms. Catherine Woods
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Anti-fraud resources:
