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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:
- "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!
- 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.
- empowr.grant@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: shuu@yutaka-net.co.jp
Reply-To: empowr.grant@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 29 May 2021 03:44:37 -0300
Subject: Your urgent feedback is highly appreciated.
I am Mr.Woosley,I am here to pass vital information to you but before I proceed, I would like to know if you have been informed about your winnings. EMPOWER LOTTERY WINNER 2020-2023,
I am writing to report your recent victory won by the Empower lottery. We are here to inform you that your empower account name has been selected as the winner of this year (EMPOWER LOTTERY WINNER 2021) This year you won $20,000.000 Twenty million dollars, Contact our head office At this Emails address: ( empowr.grant@gmail.com ) Contact us immediately so that you will know where or how to get your Empower lottery winning of the year, A Wisconsin man who won the $22 million dollar jackpot last month decided to split his lottery winnings with his best friend to honor a promise he made nearly 30 years ago
https://wkow.com/2020/07/26/wisconsin-friends-split-22-million-powerball-winnings/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JqxvyFI23o&feature=youtu.be
Yours Sincerely
Empower Management.
Kindly provide all details
VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM
(1) Your Contact Address/Private Email Address
(2) Your Tel/Fax Numbers
(3) Your Nationality/Country
(4) Your Full Name
(5) Occupation/Company
(6) Age/Gender
(7) Comments About Empowr Lottery?
Yours Sincerely
Mr.Woosley
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