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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- clydecourson00@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Gene White" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <clydecourson02@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2015 13:41:35 -0500
Subject: FLORIDA LOTTERY COMMUNICATIONS
FLORIDA LOTTERY COMMUNICATIONS
You have been chosen for a lump sum amount in tune of $1 million prize for this year 2015.
This winning is from Florida Lottery and your email address was found through the web search engine world wide search carried out 5 days ago. Your email address came out as one of our 7 lucky winners during the draws.
However you are required to claim this winning as soon as you get this notice. You can come down in person to claim this award.
Kindly send out the below details needed to claim your winning:
1. YOUR FULL NAMES
2. NATIONALITY
3. ADDRESS
4. DIRECT MOBILE NUMBER
5. OCCUPATION
6. COPY OF YOUR IDENTIFICATION
Thank you and once more congratulations, and please forward all details to our claims agent who would direct you on the process needed to claim winnings with his below details and make sure you call to speak to him.
CLAIM AGENT: Clyde Courson
EMAIL ADDRESS: clydecourson00@gmail.com
MOBILE NUMBER: +1 904 201 8770
Prize Claim Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $27 billion to education and sending more than 700,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The Florida Lottery reinvests nearly 98 percent of its revenue back into Florida's economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,000 Florida
retailers and transfers to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $37 billion in prizes and made more than 1,300 people millionaires
Thank you
Mrs. Gene White
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Anti-fraud resources:
