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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:
- 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:
- "million 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)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From:
Reply-To: BMW LOTTERY DEPARTMENT <bmwpromo4000@gmail.com>
Date:
Subject:
BMW LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
300 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07675
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
I am Mr .Robert James The BMW Delivery Agent and I am written to inform you about your BMW winning fund that brought by the United Embassy from the government of USA in the white house Washington DC The 2 BMW X6 cars and a check of $45.7 Million dollars Have Been Mandated to be deliver to your address as soon as you get back to me with The Following Details
1. Name In Full :
2. Residential Address :
3. Nationality :
4. Age :
5. Sex :
6. Occupation :
7. Direct Phone :
8. Present Country :
9. Email address :
Please, you are to provide me with the above details as soon as possible so i can begin with the processing of your prize winnings.
Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.
MR.ROBERT JAMES
CONTACT:+1 [304]355-0910
THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS
BMW LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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Anti-fraud resources:
