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:

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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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)
- "caldrock212@msn.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:
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.
- +447031991507 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incorporation" <seefrednow@gmail.com>
Reply-To: caldrock212@msn.com
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 15:25:12 +0000
Subject: =?utf-8?q?RE=3A_YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS_WON_YOU_A_FORTUNE_OF_=C2=A31=2C000=2C0?=
=?utf-8?q?00=2E00=28GBP=29!!!?=

Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incorporation
2nd Floor Berkley Square House,
Berkley Square London,
W1J 6BD London,
United Kingdom.

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded 2013 draws held on the 16th Of August, 2013 by Yahoo/MSN{Hotmail} and Googlemail and your email was among the 20 Lucky winners of £1,000,000.00{One Million Great Britain Pounds}each in the Yahoo/MSN{Microsoft} Online Promo.This draw is being organized to create and improve a larger awareness record for internet users worldwide.

However the results were released on the {18th Of August,2013} and your email was attached to ticket number (7PWYZ2013) and ballot number (BT:12052013/20).

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031,643 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet.However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.

The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ). This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).This lottery is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.

To begin the claim processing of your prize you are to contact the Online coordinator and provide him with the following information as stated below, so we can proceed with the verification and clearance process of your file.

1. Full Names : ...............................
2. Residential Address : ......................
3. Phone Number:...............................
4. Fax Number : ...............................
5. Ballot No.:.................................
6. Ticket No.:.................................
7. Next of Kin(Tel.):.................................

Dr Rocky Caldwell
Online Co-ordinator.
Email: caldrock212@msn.com
Tel..: +447031991507.

*You are advised to forward the above information to the contact above as soon as possible to enable us attend to your file. This email is registered and sent only to a certified Yahoo/MSN{Microsoft} Promo Winner.

You are to keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid issues of friends or relatives trying to claim a prize on the rightful winner's behalf. Our special thanks and gratitude to the Microsoft team and our Guru Bill Gates and associates. Do accept our hearty congratulations once again.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs Rose Anderson,
Fiduciary Agent,
Verification Department...

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam