419 scam: "Mr Rodney Lee"<office.message@officechamber.net> Dear Friend

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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million dollars" (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)
- "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)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr Rodney Lee" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info_atmfundscenter111@yahoo.fr>
Date: Wed, 9 May 2012 09:33:41 +1000
Subject: Dear Friend

Dear Friend

This email will come to you as a surprise.Congratulations! your email have brought you an unexpected luck.You have won a free LIFE TIME INTERNATIONAL ATM MASTER CARD valued (2000,000.00 dollars).TWO MILLION DOLLARS Only,proudly sponsored by AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE (ATM).Most recently this foundation set up the NEW HOPE LOTTERY to give out prizes.

HOW DID YOU WIN / SELECTION PROCESS DONE?
No tickets were sold out to enter this promo.Your email/ATM card series is one of the lucky emails/ATM card series,selected RANDOMLY via E-wheel Computer Ballot System drawn from over 200,000 companies and 300,000 individual email/ATM card users,from all over the world during the ATM Online EMAIL selection Draw attached to your Lucky number:(F9800/587/20KK),as one of the 20 lucky winners,in the on going ATM
lottery promotion.

WHO IS SPONSORING THIS PROMO AND WHY?
The AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE (ATM).So much money is generated all over the World for using the ATM card,Without your patronage, this would not have been possible.To encourage the use of ATM cards globally,The ATM INC.SETUP THE NEW HOPE LOTTERY to give out prize via random email ballot selection.
This was the information requested from the FedEx Courier Company that you should provide.

1,Your Full names: ……………
Your full delivery address: …………
Your direct phone number: ………..
Home Phone Number: ……………..
Sex: …………..
Age: ………………
Your occupation: ………………..
Country: ………………..
A copy of your identity:

2.You are to pay the sum of $200 for the delivery of your ATM CARD
THE PAYMENT CENTER HAS BEEN MANDATED TO ISSUE OUT THE ATM CARD IN YOUR NAMES ONCE ALL CONDITIONS ARE ABIDE AND PROVIDED BY YOU,WHICH YOU CAN USE TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM ANY ATM MACHINE,IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD OR OPTIONAL ONCE YOU GET THE ATM CARD YOU CAN DEPOSIT THE WHOLE FUNDS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.WARNING!! Do not tell people about your Award until your ATM card is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.Best of luck as you spend your good fortune and congratulations in advance.

best regards,

Mr Rodney Lee
Cc Senate President
Cc All foreign payment offices
Cc Board of directors [ cbn ]
Cc Accountant general of the federation

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam