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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:
- 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:
- ",500,000" (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:
- 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 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.
- benedictkhumalo@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "BETTY BRIGS" <BETTYBRIGS@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: benedictkhumalo@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 22:07:53 +0100
Subject: EMAIL ID CLAIM
Uthingo National Lottery South Africa Announce your EMAIL ID today as one of the lucky winning emails of this month of April 2014 Winning the Uthingo National email Lottery.
Your EMAIL ID emerged as one of the two lucky winners of US$5,500,000.00 (Five Million Five Hundred thousand U.S.Dollars) cash each in the Category "A". Draws held for the month April 2014 for
Uthingo/Mandela Foundation E-business promotional draws from 21,000 Email-addresses of individuals/companies from all over the world based on our computer Balloting.
Your Email is attached to the winning Ref NO:-PF23-711W-9, Batch No: 46-184-WAN and serial NO:215-18.
Please Come forward for your claim without delay.
To commence on your claim process, Contact the Coordinating officer Dr. Benedict Khumalo immediately Email: benedictkhumalo@yahoo.com with the following information:
Your Full Names:----------------------------
Your Telephone/Fax Number:----------------------------
Your Age:---------------------------
Your Occupation:----------------------
Your Nationality /Address:-----------------------
Thank you.
Betty Brigs (Notification / Public Relation Officer).
16th Floor SABC Radio Park Building Henley Road Auckland Park, ZA-2006 Johannesburg. South Africa.
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Anti-fraud resources:
