419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- ",000,000" (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)
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!
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.
- +447858836912
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- uefachampionleague201120@london.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON <uefachampionleague201120@accountant.com>
Reply-To: uefachampionleague201120@london.com
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 11:37:35 -0500
Subject: YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON =?iso-8859-1?b?KKMxLDAwMCwwMDAuMDAp?=
CONTACT YOUR PAYMENT MANAGER (MR. MARK W. NICHOLSON ) FOR CLAIM.

WE CONGRATULATE YOU FOR BEING ONE OF THE LUCKY WINNER'S OF THE 2012
FREE ONLINE EMAIL WEB PROMO FOR THE JUST CONCLUDED (UEFA CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE MAY 2012).

YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON £1,000,000.00 (One Million Great British Pounds)
in the first category of our computer ballot free email lottery Star
prize of the 2012 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Participants were selected
randomly from the Internet Users through a computer draw system
extracted from over a million personal and corporate e-mails that were
listed on line.
Your Winning Ticket no is: EUX10005 TXX

Your Winning Batch no is: 6783QM/EURO/UK.
No ticket was sold but it is to encourage the use of Internet/football
fans world wide for the just concluded EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2012
and to receive your prize you are requested to contact the appointed
Payment Agent (Mr. Mark W. Nicholson) who is In charge of Your Region
in England and send your full details including.

1. Full Name.................... 2. Nationality............3.
Telephone Number............ 4.Winning ticket number.......... 5.
Batch No............
Mr. Mark W. Nicholson.
International Prize Claim Office.
(Asia, Europe, Middle East, America and Africa)
No 40 Lever Street Manchester M1 1FN.
TELEPHONE: +447858836912
EMAIL:uefachampionleague201120@london.com
NOTE THAT NOBODY OR EVEN THE APPOINTED BANK HAS THE RIGHT TO TOUCH,
DEDUCT OR GET ACCESS TO YOUR PRIZE MONEY FOR ANY REASON. THEY HAVE
BEEN WARNED STRICTLY!

All winnings must be claimed not later than 30 days; and also winners
under the age of 18 years are automatically disqualified and you must
inform us on all your communications with the Payment Agent until you
receive your money.
Sincerely Yours,
Management
LONDON (UK)

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam