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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:
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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.
- mailinfo910@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs Susan JOHNSON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mailinfo910@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 May 2018 12:12:57 -0300
Subject: CONGRATULATION ! !! !!!
DIRECTION OF THE PROMOTION OF THE RUSSIA WORLD CUP LOTTERY
2018 RUSSIA WORLD CUP LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
Ref. Number: 22/756/4007
Lot #: 497001527-AB66
Number of gain: AB 164C
Sir / Madam
We are pleased to inform you of the result of international programs lottery winners held two days ago of this to our head office here.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 9570015948-6410 with serial number 3648042 - 510 drew lucky numbers 4-14-66-71-07-36 which consequently won in the 1st category. $10,5Million (Ten Million Five hundred thousand United state Dollars).
PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF GAIN
Email:mailinfo910@gmail.com
Name:Williams Scott
To avoid errors, please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in the mail that you send to our management that are:
Ref. Number: 22/756/4007
Lot Number: 49 7001547-AB66
Number of Gain: AB 164C
Attached form winner
Note: Anybody under the age of 14 is automatically removed.
Sincerely,
Operations Director
Mrs Susan JOHNSON
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Anti-fraud resources:
