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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (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.
- samsung.communications@europe.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "SAMSUNG EUROPE" (may be fake)
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:16:29 +0100
Subject: LAST NOTIFICATION: SAMSUNG PROMO WINNING.
Samsung Europe
Galaxy Claim Prize
Olof Palmestraat 10
Delft-Holland
Fax: 0031(084)-439-3028
www.samsung.com/europe
OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION
You have 1 week remaining to retrieve your premium prize of "Samsung Galaxy Promo" Category'C'
WINNING PRIZE INCLUDES:
1.Sum of Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Euros
2.Samsung Galaxy S6 EDGE.
Winning Ticket Number:WIN-01331A/SMG15
Complete and fill in the attached claim application form carefully and follow the instructions.
CONTACT:
Claims Officer.
YONG WAN-CHIU.(Notaris)
Email: samsung.communications@europe.com
We advise you to keep this winning notification confidential and away from public notice to avoid double
claim/mistransfer or impersonation until/after remittance/payment to you.
Congratulations.
Samsung Europe
(Administratie)
Sue Van Brutnik.
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Anti-fraud resources:
