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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "blackberryclaims@gmx.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.
- +447017047403 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "BlackBerry Mobile Company" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <blackberryclaims@gmx.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:35:22 -0700
Subject: Mobile Promotion
BlackBerry® Mobile Company
149 Plumstead Road
Woolwich
London
SE18 7DY.
Dear Esteemed Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the BlackBerry® Mobile Promotional Draws Result. All Mobile Number and Email entered for this promotional draws were randomly inputted from all mobile telecommunication network resource database in conjunction with the World Wide Email Web Network using the Synchronized Random Selection System (SRSS), which subsequently won you the pay out sum of $140,000.00 United State Dollars for this year 2012 lottery promotion.
The payout of your cash prize to you will be subject to the final validations and satisfactory report that you are the authentic owner of the winning Mobile Number and email that received this Message.
In line with the statutory procedure governing the claims of won prizes, you are required to produce the particulars to our Affiliate Claim Agent Officer who's contact details is below.
1. Full Name:
2. Contact Address:
3. Gender (Male/Female):
4. Occupation:
5. Phone Numbers:
6. Private Email:
7. Nationality:
Affiliate Claim Agent Contact Officer:
Mr. Henry Paulson
+447017047403
blackberryclaims@gmx.com
Thank you for being part of our commemorative Annual Anniversary Draws.
Yours Truly,
Mrs. Jane Johnson.
On-line Mobile Co-Ordinator.
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Anti-fraud resources:
