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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "cocacolaclaims33@live.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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.
- +447017034188 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "COCA COLA COMPANY" <cocacolaclaims33@live.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:25:01 +0100
Subject: ************COMPLEMENT OF THE SEASON************
--
THE COCA COLA COMPANY PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD
DEPT COCA COLA AVENUE STAMFORD BRIDGE LONDON
SW1V 3DW UNITED KINGDOM.
THE COCA COLA-COMPANY OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION
THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE WON THE SUM OF
500,000.00 GBP(British Pounds) held this January 2012 in London(COCA COLA
LOTTERY AWARD).The selection process was carried out through
by random selection in Our computerized email selection system. Fill the
below: Ref NUMBER: UK/9420X2/68 and Batch NUMBER:074/05/ZY369
BENEFICIARY FULL NAME:
FULL HOME ADDRESS:
YOUR MOBILE NUMBER:
NATIONALITY:
STATE:
CITY:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
YOUR OCCUPATION:
SEX:
AGE:
Your prize money will be wired to your bank account via an automated
direct wire transfer system operated by nominated paying Bank.
Hence you would be required to send in your complete Banking information,
your personal id proof which is well known by your Government.
Account Name:
Account No.:
Bank Name:
Bank Address:
Swift code:
I Ban (If Applicable):
MIR (If Applicable):
IFS Code (If Applicable):
We expect an email from you immediately.
You can Call us within 7:00 hrs GMT- 22:00 hrs GMT.
Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our
Promotional programmed.
Director of claims
DR. JIMMY BEST
cocacolaclaims33@live.com
Tel: +44 701 703 4188
Sincerely,
Management
You are to keep all your winning information away from the
general public especially your ticket number and ballot
number. (This is important as a case of double claims will not
be entertained).
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Anti-fraud resources:
